Gensokyo Tenshi
by KageNoYoko
Summary: Reimu Hakurei was a normal school girl, at least until an attempt on her life during school launches her into a previously unknown world filled with girls that all have special powers, working to stop the demons that threaten everything they care about. Real World AU, with a few twists and turns here and there. Rated T for intermittent swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**New Universe time! These stories are most likely inspired by a handful of magical girl stories I've been stumbling across, most of which remain incomplete/abandoned, which is a damn shame, since they were pretty good (at least as long as OC weren't involved.)**

**Edit: after realizing just how awkward having this first chapter split into three parts was, I finally decided to get off my ass and just combine the three into a true chapter 1.**

**Hopefully this will also help with my tracking of what chapter I'm actually on, since I nearly uploaded chapter 11 instead of chapter 9 the other day. That would have screwed me up.**

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Hakurei Reimu sighed to herself as the ever annoying cacophony of her alarm clock wailed into her ear that morning, and she tried to figure out a way to shut it up in her half-asleep stupor, all the while growling to herself about stupid well-meaning friends.

"Stupid Marisa, stupid Nitori, ah, there it is!" Reimu finally cried in success, and promptly dropped a large rock on the alarm clock, which allowed the noise to die out, while the offending clock was now a sparking pile of plastic and wires on the girl's nightstand.

victoriously face-planting into her pillow, Reimu sighed in relief as she attempted to return to sleep, only to find a blue-and-white blur invade her room, and come flying onto her bed.

"Reimu-Sempai, Onee-Chan says it's time to get up!" The girl cried, kneeling beside the older girl and taking a handful of her sheets, beginning an attempt to pull them away from the iron grip of the senior.

"Leave me alone Cirno-Chan, I'll get up when I'm good 'n ready," Reimu whined back at the girl, though that only made the blue-haired midget puff up her cheeks in an adorable pout, and begin to shake the girl's shoulder.

Appearing in the doorway was an older girl with light blue hair, who watched the two interact with a small smile, but didn't announce her presence to the pair, watching on in silence at her blue-haired Imouto harassed their close friend.

Finally growing annoyed at the girl's pestering, Reimu sat up, and quickly lifted up the smaller girl by her waist, holding her up above the bed, and making the younger girl pout as she futilely kicked her feet in an attempt to get away, "Fine, I'm up Cirno-Chan, I'm up!"

"And it's a good thing you're up too, or I would have had to give your portion to one of your lovely freeloaders," Letty said, making her presence known to the two girls as she hid a chuckle behind her hand, finding their interactions adorable.

Cirno resumed kicking her feet childishly, also beginning to swing her arms around as well, while chanting, "Let me go," to the shrine maiden, but was promptly ignored by the Reimu, for she had her focus intently on Letty standing across the room, hissing at her in challenge.

"You wouldn't dare Letty-San," Reimu growled, but was disarmed by the kind smile the girl returned the challenge with.

Turning to leave the pair to their play, Letty offered a retort over her shoulder as her own form of challenge, "I guess you'll just have to get up and find out, "Rei-Mu-Chan."

Growling at the cool girl, Reimu returned her attention to the struggling blue-haired girl and muttered, "your older sister is really a pain in my ass, Bozu-Chan," and unceremoniously dropped the girl back onto the bed with a small oof, before finally getting up for the day and going to her closet to change, uncaring if the younger girl was sitting there.

Cirno just sat there in a daze for a moment, before picking up on the older girl's words, "Hey, I am not a midget!" she cried, hearing Reimu's chuckle as she disappeared into her closet, and settling for more pouting, crossing her arms over her chest.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Of course the rest of the morning passed in a blur for the Brown-haired girl. Between getting into arguments with Cirno and her other freeloader, and dealing with Letty's detached attitude and cold quips, Reimu was in a noticeably sour mood as she walked to school, listening to her friend rant at her about something she most likely didn't care for. She did stop griping at one point to try and listen in.

"So you see Cirno-Chan, I wasn't the reason Alice-Chan's dolls got broken, it was all an unfortunate series of events, caused by Patchoulli being in the wrong place at the right time."

She immediately chose to return to her griping, instead of getting involved with another of her friend Marisa's little "love-quarrels" with her two friends. Unfortunately this only caused her mind to attract to the other member of their group, Whiterock-San.

Letty of course towered over the three girls, being a year older than both Reimu and Marisa, and several years older than Cirno-Chan. Being the oldest, Letty had quickly taken on a mothering role to all three, though sometimes Reimu felt as though there was something odd about the woman. Like there was a secret underneath her skin, that no one could explain.

There was also the matter of how her gaze lingered on the older girl whenever Reimu paid attention to her, but she always brushed that off as a matter of how their personalities clashed, and Letty's infuriating ability to get beneath Reimu's skin with the simplest comments.

Noticing the younger girl staring at her again, Letty smiled down at her in that way that made Reimu's blood boil, and regarded her, "Don't worry Reimu-Chan, I'd be happy to hold your hand if you're too afraid to cross the street by yourself."

Blinking in confusion, Reimu took notice of the fact Marisa and Cirno were already on the other side of the road, and were still chattering away, as the crosswalk light gave them the okay to go.

Roaring in annoyance, Reimu stomped across the street, knowing that Letty was following her, and the four resumed their walk to school in relative silence. Though Reimu couldn't help feeling a piercing stare aimed at her back for the rest of the walk.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Class 1-C of Mayohiga High was bustling as everyone waited for their Sensei to arrive, chatting amongst their groups to pass the time, while a girl at a desk near the back of the room had her head cradled in her hands, and was groaning loudly to herself.

Beside the girl, her lifelong friend, Marisa, sighed as she listened to her friend complaining, "Oi Reimu, if you didn't get enough sleep last night, why didn't you simply go to bed earlier?" It was a simple question, but both girls already knew the answer.

"You know damn well why not, you monochrome thief," Reimu shot back, burying her head in her arms further, and causing her friend to wince.

As part of the girl's Scholarship to continue attending Mayohiga High, Reimu had been tasked with the upkeep of the school's Shinto shrine, which had garnered her the nickname "Red-white shrine maiden" amongst their classmates. And it was a fairly gruelling job.

The Shrine had not been kept up very well before Reimu had been tasked with it's care, and there were many rotting boards of wood that needed to be replaced, broken shingles which needed to be repaired, and many artefacts that required careful inspection before they could be donated to different foundations.

In all, it was a nightmare to take care of, and Reimu spent much of her free time after school making plans to continue fixing up the shrine, to her friend's chagrin.

It was a wonder the girl's grades never dropped for all the time she spent working on the shrine, and even when she did have time off, she often used it in order to study some of the musty old tomes about being a shrine maiden, which she had dug up in the storehouse.

Her friends were of course worried about her, but knowing how self-reliant the girl was, their words often fell upon deaf ears, and they figured that as long as she continued to keep her grades up, there was nothing to really worry about.

Finally their Sensei arrived, and class was ready to begin, until Marisa noticed something worrying, "Oi Reimu, wake up before Sensei notices," The girl stage-whispered, shaking her friend's shoulder in an attempt to awaken her.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"Finally, lunch," Reimu moaned in half-asleep joy, as she trailed along behind Marisa out into the grand courtyard of the school, where cherry blossoms were blooming in all directions.

Marisa chuckled at her friend's antics, and grabbed her by the wrist, leading the sleepy shrine maiden over to a bench and sitting her own, before taking the seat opposite her, "Honestly Reimu, can you only show enthusiasm for food and being a shrine maiden?"

"School is boring, at least Shrine maidens help people," Reimu shot back sleepily, once again cradling her head as Marisa set down a sack lunch next to the girl.

"Yeah, but so do scientists, and doctors," Marisa pointed out, "Being a shrine maiden means a lot of sweeping, and keeping up a shrine with little thanks."

"Ah, Reimu-San, Kirisame-San," A green-haired girl cried as she approached the two, "I was looking all over for you."

"Hey, what's with the last-name basis?" Marisa cried, but was promptly ignored by the other girl.

"Reimu-San, you have to get over to the shrine quickly, I heard a few of the teachers talking about checking in on your work, and if you're not there they might give you a bad review," Sanae explained, causing Reimu to bolt upright and quickly stand.

"Sorry about missing lunch Marisa, I promise I'll make it up to you later," Reimu cried, vaulting over the bench and dashing back towards the school, catching the sound of Marisa sighing behind her, but trying to push it from her mind.

Strangely though, as the girl ran for the school, she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched again. Taking a moment to divert her attention away from her charge, the girl scanned the courtyard for anyone who could be watching her, and sure enough her eyes caught onto something.

Standing beneath a cherry blossom tree was the captain of the kendo club, Konpaku Youmu, her familiar wooden sword strapped to her back, along with one of the teachers, Saigyouji Yuyuko, known as the air-headed ghost amongst the students for her ability to seemingly appear anywhere. Both girls eyes were following the shrine maiden as she dashed towards the shrine, and it unnerved the girl slightly.

Just before she reached the safety of the school, Reimu caught sight of a head of blue hair out of the corner of her eye, and noticed how Letty was also watching her, though she looked concerned about something while she half-listened to her younger sister's babbling.

Reimu had to brush it off though, her shrine came first, and even though it had started as a chore that the school board had pushed on her, she had quickly grown to love working on it. She couldn't bear to lose another thing she loved.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Drifting around the corner, Reimu was running full tilt for the site of the school's Shinto shrine, having had to stop in the girl's locker room to quickly change into her shrine maiden uniform on the way to keep up appearances, and was now hoping to beat the administrators to the shrine, in an attempt to look good.

Her heart dropped as she saw six men in black-suits ascending the stairs ahead of her, in a two-by-three line. Pushing on that last bit of strength, Reimu managed to close the distance, and hurried up the stairs after them.

The girl felt her heart drop further when she heard one of the men speak, "It doesn't look like much, does it? Seems that girl hasn't been putting much effort into it's upkeep after all."

Reimu was near tears as she heard the others agree. She had been putting all of her time into that shrine, worrying her friends for her health, and even using what money of her own she could sacrifice into supplies to further repair the shrine, for materials that the school was too cheap to purchase themselves.

finally reaching the top step, Reimu took in a deep breath, completely winded by her mad sprint practically across the school, gaining the attention of the six men.

"Ah, shrine maiden, there you are," One of the men said, and Reimu looked up to regard them, but was startled to find that she couldn't see their faces, their matching black hair covered their eyes and mouths like a veil, unnervingly.

"Yes, we must admit we expected more of this Shrine you were told to care for, but, perhaps they were mistaken in doing so, it doesn't appear as though you've been doing much."

"That's not true sirs, I've been working very hard, sometimes without food or sleep, in order to return the shrine to it's former glory," Reimu argued, though her voice sounded strained, and she was beginning to feel light headed.

"And so argumentative, perhaps they ought have chosen someone better to fix this place up, otherwise we would not be able to walk in here so easily," another of the men said, but Reimu couldn't tell which, and she found her vision beginning to blur.

"Perhaps we should have targeted another, such as that Kochiya girl, she seems like a savoury sort," another of the men spoke up, and Reimu noted that she was swaying, like a leaf in the wind. 'Sanae, taking over the shrine?'

"Ah, miss shrine maiden, are you alright?" one of the men asked, gaining the attention of the others. "I dare say, it must have been a real pain to run all the way across the school to try and get here before us." She noted the others mumbled their agreement.

"N-not at all sirs, I was just...not informed of your inspection today, and it was only thanks to one of my friends that I knew this was going to happen," Reimu replied, trying to be polite, and forced out a smile, though she was trying hard not to faint.

"Ah how odd, I was sure we had told no one about the inspection today," one said, turning to the man beside him, "Perhaps we have a traitor among us, for this was supposed to be a silent operation gentlemen."

The rest once again mumbled their agreement, and Reimu felt herself weakening further. Now trying hard to simply stand up, her legs were shaking beneath her, and her skin felt cold and clammy.

'W-what's wrong with me?" Reimu asked herself. She had never felt like this before, and she'd never had a fainting spell in her life.

"I am afraid dear shrine maiden, that you have stumbled into an unfortunate situation," She couldn't tell who was speaking now, her vision was far too blurry to make out anything, and their voices were starting to sound the same, "Our intention was to camp out here and wait until nightfall, so we could catch you unaware, and have this horrible job over with quickly and painlessly, but it appears that someone has sent you to your death prematurely."

"D-death?" Reimu asked in a daze, causing her body to jolt up. These people intended to kill her?

"Yes, alas, if things had gone according to plan, we would have quietly killed you later tonight, when no one was around, far too many chances for someone to stumble upon your corpse I'm afraid, and have enough time to dispose of you, but it seems that's no longer an option," Reimu faintly heard a strange sound, like a blade being unsheathed, but was too tired to even register it.

"Now, my dear future shrine maiden of paradise, please just Die!" one of the men shouted, and Reimu saw five of the men contort into lupine-like shadows and jump at her.

'S-so this is it?' Reimu thought, 'I'm going to die here?'

"I'm afraid your meal has been interrupted, Youkai-San," A firm voice announced, the smell of cherry blossoms wafting through the air between Reimu and the creatures which she couldn't make out.

Through her blurring vision, Reimu caught sight of long silver hair, a girl, with a sword sheathe strapped to her back, wearing a green dress. A second sheathed sword hung at her hip, and the smell of cherry blossoms covered the girl.

That was all Reimu could make out before her mind blacked out, and she fainted, though she managed to weakly catch , "Yuyuko-Sama, take care of Reimu-san," before everything faded to black.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Reimu sat bolt upright as consciousness returned to her, but immediately regretted it as her body cried out at her, forcing her back into a laying position.

Groaning in pain, Reimu took a quick look around, and realized that she was obviously in the nurses office, from all of the complicated tools and instruments scattered about.

In an attempt to regain her bearings, and remember why she could possibly be in the nurses office, Reimu tried to recall what had happened before she had fainted but nothing came to mind.

She was startled out of her thoughts as a small blue blur came flying at her from her blind spot, and took a tight hold on her arm, causing her to wince in pain. Almost beginning to chew out whoever thought it was a good idea to attack her, Reimu was stopped by the distinct sound of crying.

Looking over, Reimu found Cirno hugging her arm and crying about something, causing a pang in the older girl's heart. She had never seen the girl openly cry before, and to be honest, she hoped to never see it again. Managing to lift her free arm, Reimu reached over, and allowed her fingers to run through the younger girl's hair, in an attempt to comfort her, in the same way she recalled her grandfather doing for her when she was young.

Now that she was beginning to wake up, Reimu noted that the girl was blubbering incoherently into her arm, but couldn't suppress a small smile at how cute the girl was being.

The moment was sadly ruined, however, as Letty stepped into the room, and carefully pried Cirno away from her aching arm, "Cirno, Reimu-san has just been in a bad situation, and you're hurting her," The woman gently chastised, gaining her junior's attention.

A smile tugged at her lips as she saw Cirno try to wipe away her tears unsuccessfully, and put on that cocky smile of hers, "Y-yeah, sorry about that Reimu-sempai!" The girl stated, back to her cheerful self that Reimu preferred.

"What happened?" Reimu asked quietly, her eyes refocusing on the white ceiling, her own mind drawing a blank.

"From what Konpaku-San told us, she had overheard what Kochiya-San had told you, and after getting the story from the girl she felt it was suspicious, so she'd followed you to the shrine," Letty began, "When she got there, she found a handful of thugs threatening you, and that you passed out when she arrived from fright. She got one of the teachers to bring you inside while she dealt with the thugs, but they escaped."

That was funny, Reimu swore she could remember the word Youkai, and strange wolf men before she passed out, as well as the captain holding a very real sword.

"How is Youmu-san?" Reimu asked, turning her head to look at the older girl, and was relieved to see her smile.

"Konpaku-san is just fine, she said that the thugs were no hassle, and that once they learned about her kendo skills they turned tail and ran," Letty explained, "She is hoping that they will not attempt to squat in the shrine again, but she has extended an offer of protection to you in case of future attacks, and most of the teachers agreed it was a good idea."

Reimu bit her lip at the thought. She didn't like the idea of relying on someone or inconveniencing them, especially Konpaku-San, who had her club duties to attend, but she didn't want anything to happen again, or ever be that helpless, so she gave a resolute nod of her head, "Please tell Konpaku-san that I would like to accept her offer."

"Tell her yourself," Marisa stated as she entered without announcing herself, "She's been standing outside the entire time, listening to you guys talk with that same stoic face she always has," The Monochrome-loving girl was silenced by a flick to the forehead by Letty, "Ow, hey, what was that for?"

"You shouldn't speak ill of the people that saved your friend's life, Kirisame-san," Letty chided, "Youmu-san, could you please come in here, I believe that Reimu-san has made her choice."

When she entered the room, Reimu found herself having a flashback to earlier that day, and immediately noticed the differences. Instead of twin swords on her back and hip, Youmu was carrying a simple kendo sword on her back, she was wearing the basic school uniform instead of her green dress, and instead of the long white hair she remembered billowing in the breeze, the girl's was short, barely brushing against her ears, with a small black ribbon tied into her hair off-centre.

Youmu immediately dropped into a bow when she came to stand beside the bed, and Reimu was left a little shocked at the respect the girl was giving her, "Upperclassman Hakurei-san, I apologize in advance for not getting there sooner, and for not bringing those thugs to justice."

Blinking a few times to regain her thoughts in light of the girl's formal speech, Reimu finally found her voice, and tried to give a bow of her own, but was hindered by her position, "That is okay Youmu-san, I'm just thankful that you were there, and that nothing bad happened," Reimu offered as comfort, "and please, it's just Reimu."

Youmu for the first time since entering seemed to lose her composure, and blushed at the older girl, "Hai Reimu-sempai."

Unfortunately Marisa chose to butt in again, and began to pinch the younger girl's cheeks from behind, cooing into her Kouhai's ears, "Aww, she's so cute! Can we keep her Letty?" She teased.

Bringing a hand to her forehead, Reimu almost wanted to punch her best friend, but was thankfully saved the effort as the school nurse appeared, grabbing the blonde by the head and purring menacingly into her ear, "Do you really want to keep her Kirisame-san?"

Yuuka Kazami was, by far, the most infamous teacher at Mayohiga high. The woman had her own garden on the top of the school in a reserved greenhouse, where she grew the many plants she needed to use in the drugs she gave to the students, and it was said she was a master botanist, having traveled the world in order to learn everything she could about plants, before she settled down to study medicine.

It was claimed by the students that the woman also had a wicked sense of humour, and was a closet Sadist, though that last claim remained unproven among the student body, and trying to ask the woman's adopted daughter, Camillia (who was also interested in studying medicine) usually ended with the girl threatening you with various poisonous plants she knew her mother had in her private greenhouse at home, though all were non-lethal.

The woman only seemed to have three soft spots. One was her aforementioned daughter, who she treated like a princess, another were her plants, which she treasured, possibly more than her own life, and the third was, oddly enough, another student. In fact it was one of Cirno's friends.

"Sorry Kazami-Sensei," Marisa chuckled nervously, "I was just joking around, Y'know?"

"Of course you were Kirisame-san," The older woman purred, and then straightened to regard the shrine maiden, "Oh my but you have had quite the interesting day Hakurei-san, attacked by a bunch of thugs on school ground, and saved by this little cutie here," Yuuka accentuated her point by pinching the young Kendo enthusiast's cheeks almost painfully, causing Youmu to begin whining pitifully in response.

"That's true Kazami-sensei, but when can I get out of here, I probably have a lot of things to do," Reimu stated, getting right to the point, and looking at the window, she noted that the sky had turned orange.

"Oh, you're free to go as soon as you feel well enough Hakurei-san, I didn't find anything wrong with you other than a bad case of fatigue, Though I would like to warn you in the future to not attempt a sprint across the school like you did today, that was probably why you passed out."

Nodding, Reimu kicked off the sheets and quickly jumped out of the bed she'd been placed in, and began to look for her clothes.

Yuuka thankfully began to herd the other girls from the room, though Reimu could hear Cirno making a fuss, but when she turned to look, Youmu was still standing by the door.

"Err, may I help you Youmu-san?" Reimu asked, holding onto her shrine maiden uniform tightly.

"I would like to walk home with you, in order to talk about a few things Hakurei-Sempai, I hope that you don't mind." The stoic young girl replied.

"No, it's okay, I'm sure Marisa and Cirno are leaving right away, and Letty has to go with them to make sure they don't get into trouble, so the company would be nice," Reimu replied, then remembered, "But could you please turn so I can get changed?"

She was amused how fast the girl's face grew bright red, and how quickly she turned away, and made an effort to quickly change back into her uniform, to not inconvenience the younger girl further. Once the comforting weight of her red and white bow was tied into her hair, she gave the girl the okay, "Well, shall we go Youmu-san?"

The smaller girl nodded, and the pair quickly left the nurses office, where Yuuka had remained unnoticed in her chair.

"So it's going to be Konpaku-san that is her partner then," The green-haired woman purred, "How interesting, when those two have never talked before."

The woman was broken from her musing when the door to the nurses office was slammed open, and a blonde-haired girl rushed in, carrying along with her a small blonde doll, "Kaa-san, it's time to go home, c'mon."

Yuuka chuckled at the girl's boundless energy as she hung up her white coat on the back of her chair, and followed the younger girl out of the room, "Yes, Yes, I'm coming Medicine-dear."

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

The two girls walked in a comfortable silence as they made their way back to Reimu's house, the streetlights beginning to come on as the darkness intensified.

"I...thought you said you wanted to talk to me Youmu-san?" Reimu asked curiously, since the pair had been silent ever since leaving the school. being used to Cirno and Marisa talking non-stop, this was fairly unnerving to the brown-haired girl, but it didn't seem as though Youmu had anything to really speak of.

"Don't worry Reimu-san, I just don't think I'm the right person to explain everything to you that you'll need to know," Youmu replied calmly, making Reimu wonder if she was always this stoic.

Thankfully the older girl's house finally came into view shortly after the small exchange, but Reimu was unnerved when she noticed that the lights were on, when she distinctly recalled turning them all off before leaving for school that morning.

Rushing ahead and without hearing Youmu's advice to remain calm, Reimu slammed open the door to her house, and was startled by what she found.

Sitting at her kitchen table were three women, two somewhat familiar, and one a complete mystery to the girl. She quickly recognized Saigyouji-sensei, as well as Kamishirasawa-sensei, but could not put a name to the last woman, who seemed to be the most calm of the three.

Unaware of their new guest, the women continued to talk amongst themselves for a few minutes, "Oh Keine, don't be such a stick in the mud, this is wonderful, the only reason they had to attack her was because she had potential."

"I don't think you understand at all why I'm so upset about this Yuyuko," Keine-sensei replied, "One of our students was attacked, and nearly killed today, under our noses, and it was only thanks to your servant that they didn't kill Hakurei-san."

"You got to look on the bright side," Yuyuko-sensei replied cheerfully, "My darling Youmu got there in time thanks to Sanae-San's tip-off, and fought off those Youkai all by herself."

"Yuyuko-sama, I brought the girl with me," Youmu announced, having caught up with the other girl, and have the three women a small bow, while her Sempai remained at the door, dazed as her mind tried to comprehend what she was seeing.

"Ah, Youmu-san, wonderful timing, now could you tell your windbag mistress just why Reimu-san nearly dying today was a bad thing," Keine cried.

"I...don't think that would have any effect on her, to be honest Keine-sensei," The small girl answered, blushing noticeably.

Yuyuko had already crossed the room while the two had conversed, and was now inspecting the young shrine maiden, who began to feel nervous because of the careful look she was being given.

"She's not much, is she Yukari?" Yuyuko finally said, turning and obviously referring to the last woman sitting at the table.

Without replying, the woman only sipped her tea, keeping her eyes closed, and remaining out of the conversation.

Keine-sensei was quick to apologize for the woman's attitude, "I'm really sorry about these two Hakurei-san, Yuyuko tends to be that way, and I'm afraid Yukari is a bit of a...special case."

"How special, considering she appears to be brain-dead," The girl growled back, still a bit prickly over having her house invaded. A quick smack over the head from Yuyuko shut her up for the moment.

"No, Yukari has a special ability that allows her to detach her spirit from her body, and right now she is currently inspecting a few things that have been brought to our attention recently, so her body is sort of on auto-pilot for the moment," Keine answered.

"You mean like those monks you read about sometimes, who have learned inner balance?" Reimu tried offering, but was confused when both women began to laugh, "what's so funny?"

"Yukari as a monk, that is simply ridiculous," Yuyuko answered, before rolling into a new round of laughter.

"I suppose it's sort of like that, but there is a much more complicated explanation for it, which I don't think you would quite understand, Hakurei-san," Keine substituted, "But that's not really the reason why we're here, invading your home. Which I may add, was their idea," She justified, pointing at the pink and blonde haired women, "I was perfectly fine with calling you into the principle's office tomorrow, after you'd had time to recuperate."

"So why are you here?" Reimu asked, getting up in order to go make tea for herself, and possibly Youmu.

"We're here because you attracted a group of Youkai onto the school, endangered the lives of everyone, and because your powers managed to awaken without gaining our notice," The blonde woman sitting at the table answered, as her red eyes opened slowly, blinking sleep from them.

The woman's imposing image would have held up, if she didn't immediately have to stifle a yawn, which made Yuyuko begin to giggle, and Keine cover her face with her hands.

"Hey, it's not like I hired those guys to come to the school to do an inspection on the shrine, That was the principal's fault. He also forgot to forward the message to me about there being an inspection, and I had to hear it from Sanae, and rush over there," The brown-haired girl snapped, "It's no wonder I passed out, when I had to run from one end of the school to the other just to meet them."

When two of the women began to laugh, Reimu felt like she should just throw the three out, being her teachers or not. but when Yukari suddenly grew calm, she felt nervous.

"I never sent people to inspect the shrine, I've always trusted you to take care of it to the best of your abilities, though I must admit I believe you work a bit too hard on it, and don't put your health first," The woman explained.

"W-wait a second..." Reimu paused, "That means that you're..."

"Principal Yakumo Yukari," The woman introduced herself, getting up in order to give the girl a small curtsey.

Oh god, Reimu thought, I'm doomed.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Slumping down into a chair conveniently placed by Youmu, Reimu tried to catch her breath as she came to realize she had just insulted her principal, who she had never seen before in her life.

"Oh god I'm so sorry Principal-sama!" Reimu cried, dropping into a deep bow, but smacking her head off of the table.

Both women were once again laughing, but where before Reimu had been angry, now she was simply startled and a little scared.

"Relax Reimu-san, I'm not here to give you detention, or expel you, though that would most likely solve most of our future problems," Yukari comforted.

"Yukari!" Keine chided.

"Right, right, anyways, we're actually here to fill you in on what happened today, and everything that you need to be brought up to speed on, so that we can get you paired up with dear Youmu here, and out on active duty as soon as possible," The blonde woman continued, ignoring the way Youmu blushed at the affectionate title.

"Fill me in?" Reimu asked, "What's there to tell, a handful of guys came to my shrine on the school grounds, claiming to be inspectors, obviously bribed Sanae-san into telling me about them and putting me into a rush, then planned to kill me when I showed up."

all three woman groaned and brought a hand to their foreheads once the girl finished her explanation.

"Oh, and Youmu-Chan here saved me," Reimu added, turning to the girl she gave her a small smile, "thank you by the way."

"I'm afraid, Reimu-san, that your information is a bit off," The kendo captain replied, "though you are welcome, I didn't mind saving you."

"Ah my darling Youmu, always so dutiful," Yuyuko gushed, leaning back in her chair to swoon, getting a raised eyebrow from Keine.

"No Reimu-san, whatever you had been told as a cover story was a lie, those six men were not simple thugs, and Youmu didn't simply chase them off the school grounds," The blue-haired woman replied.

"Then what other explanations could there be?" Reimu asked, "were they demons, planning to kill me and steal my magical powers or something? What a ridiculous...oh god they were?" The girl shrieked as the three women gave the shrine maiden a guilty look.

"We don't know yet how they managed to get onto the school grounds, or how Sanae-san managed to learn about them, and we're currently investigating her involvement in your attack, but yes, for all intent and purpose, a group of demons snuck into the school and planned to wait for you to show up before killing you and stealing your "magical powers," Yukari explained.

Everything was silent in the room for a few minutes. Reimu was staring intently at the three, who returned the stare somewhat nervously, and Youmu remained to the side of Reimu, looking slightly confused by the tense aura.

"Well that's it, I'm going to bed and putting this ridiculous day behind me," Reimu stated as she pushed away from the table and stood up, "Hopefully tomorrow I won't have a bunch of crazy ladies sitting at my kitchen table, trying to convince me that I'm some magical girl."

"Reimu-sempai!" Youmu cried, but was held back by Yuyuko, who had been the closest, and grabbed the young girl's arm tightly.

"Let her go Youmu, she'll see soon enough that she can't lie to herself about these things anymore, and by tomorrow she'll need answers," Yukari stated, "We need you to be there for her when she is ready, so consider this a temporary mission, in addition to protecting Hakurei-san from any additional attempts on her life."

"My blades will cut down anyone intending to harm Hakurei-sempai, my ladies," Youmu stated with a bow.

"Good, now if you lot will excuse me, I need a few more hours of sleep, Ja Ne!," Yukari said, before slumping in her chair. Keine sighed at the woman's bashfulness, and got up.

"I may as well clean up after us, and then I'll take Yukari home," The woman explained, "Yuyuko, are you okay going home by yourself? I think leaving Youmu here to stand guard over the house would be the best plan."

"Oh please Keine, I managed just fine for centuries before I got Youmu. Even with the rise in Youkai movement, I'll survive," The pink-haired woman reassured her friend.

"Good to hear, and goodnight Yuyuko-san."

"Goodnight, kamashawashiro-san," Yuyuko replied with a giggle before running from the house.

"For gods sake Yuyuko, get my last name right at least once!" the woman growled, before turning to regard her servant, "How in the hell do you put up with that woman?"

"Lots of aspirin," Youmu replied sagely, and Keine nodded in agreement.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

The next morning was rather slow going for Reimu. It seemed that Marisa, Cirno and Letty were not going to bother her, but she still somehow managed to wake up at a respectable time, and get ready for the day, before sliding into her shoes and locking up.

On the way to the school she finally ran into her three friends, along the familiar route that the three shared, "Ohaiyo Marisa-Chan, Cirno-Chan, Letty-San."

Quickly catching up with the three, Reimu sighed in relief as she was surrounded by the comforting noise of Marisa and Cirno arguing about something arbitrary, and Letty's calming presence.

At least, until she noticed something rather odd about her youngest friend, in a set of pointed blue crystals that seemed to be hovering behind her. Stopping to count them, Reimu came up with six crystals, three on each side of the girl's back, that seemed to be made of ice, and almost resembled wings.

"Err, Cirno-Chan," Reimu spoke up, "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm good, though it feels a little bit hot today!" The young Blue haired girl replied cheerfully.

"Hot? but the sun is barely up in the sky, and we're all wearing our blazers," Reimu tried to reply, but Cirno didn't seem to be following with her mindset.

"Don't mind her, we all know little Cirno has always been affected a little differently by the weather than the rest of us," Letty answered for the young girl, and Reimu was content to let it slide, until the four arrived at school.

All at once Reimu began to notice things she had never seen before. There was Alice, one of Marisa's close friends, with two small fairies hanging on either shoulder, while she held one of her textbooks under her arm.

Cirno bolted off the minute she caught sight of her friends, and Reimu couldn't help noticing the set of what appeared to be wings the girls were sporting. The green haired one Reimu had always been a little confused about the gender of was looking surprisingly more feminine, and a pair of what looked like antennae were sprouting from her head.

'Oh god what is happening to me?' The shrine maiden thought, holding her head as she tried not to hyperventilate.

"Hey Reimu, are you okay?" Marisa asked, noticing the way her friend was panicking, "Do you need to go and see the nurse again?"

"There is no need for you to be late to class Kirisame-sempai, I will take her," Youmu announced, appearing between the three girls with nary a sound, causing Marisa to jump.

"Ah, Youmu-san, well. the teacher's did put you in charge of caring for her...so if you want to go out of your way, I guess that's fine," Marisa said, mulling the matter over in her head for a moment before accepting her Kouhai's help.

"I hope it won't be too much trouble," Letty added, before the two girls took off, shooting the breeze as if nothing had ever happened.

"What is going on?" Reimu tried to ask, looking up at the silver haired girl, but winced as she noticed the changes in the younger girl. and recoiled away from her as if burned.

"Come with me, and I'll explain everything you missed last night, Reimu-san," The girl said, offering her hand.

Reimu didn't want to listen to more of this horrible prank, but between the mental breakdown she was having at the sight of all of these strange things, she really felt like she needed answers, and that Youmu appeared to be the only one who could give them to her.

"F-fine!" The shrine maiden growled, taking a tight hold on the smaller girl's hand.

Youmu smiled before the two disappeared in a flurry of cherry blossoms, and quickly reappeared on the roof.

Reimu stumbled, and nearly fell over, but was steadied by the younger girl's hands on her hips.

taking a seat heavily, Reimu took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself down. She was thankful that Youmu was patient enough to wait for her to catch her breath.

"It is always very startling when you first begin to notice everything strange about the world, I know that it took me several days to come to terms with everything, but it would seem like you are acclimating to it much faster," Youmu commented, before taking a seat beside the elder girl.

"Strange?" Reimu gasped out, "Alice had fairies on her arms, team (9) have wings and claws and antennae, I swear that Marisa was wearing a witches hat!"

Getting up and beginning to pace, Reimu continued with her rant, "and you, your not wearing your school uniform, and are carrying real swords! and your hair, I thought it was short!"

Youmu took a handful of her long-ish hair and gave it a look, "Well, Yuyuko-sama said that she wanted to see me with longer hair, so I have been letting it grow for a while now."

"And that's just it, yesterday your hair was short, Alice was just the strange girl that kept dolls in her backpack, and my best friend's little sister did not have ice crystals floating behind her back!" Reimu shouted.

"Reimu-san, please calm down, before you do something we'll both regret," Youmu warned, but went unheeded.

"What the hell is going on with me!" Reimu cried, her anger reaching an all-time high, before sinking to her knees and feeling a sudden surge in her gut, which almost made her want to throw up. Doubling over, she used her hands to brace herself, as it felt like a huge weight was now placed on her back.

"Interesting, you appear to have a manifestation ability," Youmu commented, making Reimu lift her head.

what she saw almost sent her into a new panic attack. Circling the girl was what appeared to be several large round yin-yang orbs, which were all glowing with a pale light.

falling back onto her ass, Reimu looked at the orbs circling her, and turned to Youmu, silently asking her what was going on with wide, fearful eyes.

"It's just like Yuyuko-sama, Yukari-sama, and Keine-sensei told you last night, your powers have awakened, and this appears to be the form your powers have taken," Youmu explained, "it might have something to do with you taking care of the school shrine."

"Why are you so calm about this!" Reimu shouted, "I'm summoning things from god knows where, I was attacked by a bunch of monsters, and now all of my friends are looking like freaks!"

The girl was stopped from her ranting when Youmu gripped her shoulders, and looked into her eyes, "Reimu-sempai, take a deep breath."

The girl didn't want to listen at first, but did finally comply, and did as she was told. "Now hold it for a moment."

Reimu waited for Youmu to continue instructing her, as she began to feel slightly light-headed.

"Now release it, slowly," The swordswoman stated, and Reimu was careful to follow her directions.

Youmu took a step back, and Reimu sighed as she crossed her legs over each other, and continued to steady her breathing.

"So what is up with the change in my vision, and these orb things?" Reimu asked, keeping her eyes closed as she breathed, the Yin-yang orbs continuing to circle around her head.

"Most likely your vision is being altered as you are becoming tuned-into the supernatural world" Youmu explained, "as for those, I believe they are the manifestation of your abilities, and we will have to wait and see just what you can do with them."

"Okay, so, who do we go to in order to get answers for this?"

"No one," the younger girl replied, "We've always believed in hands-on-training in order to become accustomed to our abilities, so you'll have to get on-site practice."

Reimu was startled when a cell phone came flying at her, and she managed to catch it with instincts she never knew she had. flipping it open, Reimu was surprised to see two characters staring at her from the main screen of the phone.

"TouHou."

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 1 - Complete**

**stay tuned for Chapter 2**


	2. Chapter 2

"So...err, where do we start Youmu-san?" Reimu asked, as the two girls overlooked the courtyard below.

"The most important step to take for a newly awakened Tenshi is to bind your powers appropriately," Youmu replied calmly, without turning to regard her future partner.

Reimu was noticeably surprised by this title, "Tenshi? Selling yourselves a bit highly, aren't you? Can't we just be called magical girls?"

"We do not use the term lightly, Reimu-Sempai," The younger girl replied, turning to face her, "We use it based on it's meaning, as a protector, a guardian angel for those that cannot protect themselves from the creatures hidden in the darkness."

"Still sounds kind of high-and-mighty to me," Reimu grumbled, but went ignored as a blank playing card was suddenly thrust in front of her, "And what's this for?"

"Binding your powers, like I said," Youmu replied, "Our powers can be very dangerous when not monitored in the beginning, since you don't have a grasp on controlling them, so the higher-ups distributed these cards, in order to seal your powers away, mostly to prevent incidents in new recruits."

"And you speak of this from...experience, I take it?" Reimu asked, vaguely recalling Youmu's little cherry blossom storm, and the ever-present smell of spring the girl seemed to carry about her.

The younger girl blushed and turned away, hiding her face behind her bangs, "I may have had an accident or two when my powers first appeared, but Yuyuko-sama was there to help me, so it wasn't as bad as it could be."

"By the way, what's the little creampuff following you around supposed to be," Reimu asked, as she snatched the card away from the swordswoman and began to look it over in earnest.

Blinking in confusion, Youmu looked around, and suddenly realized what Reimu was referring to. Floating beside the girl was a large white spirit, which was currently blushing, somehow.

"Err, that is a long story, Reimu-sempai, but I will simply tell you that it is my own form of manifestation, and that it is no threat," The younger girl answered shyly. "Now, we need to bind your powers before you do any more harm to yourself today, and before we can go out and begin to train you."

"Kay, so what do I do?" Reimu asked lazily, now weaving the blank card between her fingers.

"Do you remember how you got your powers to manifest just a moment ago?" Youmu asked, and received a small nod, "I need you to focus like that again, and then point all of that focus on the card. I will take care of the rest of the sealing, with the powers Yukari-sama has gifted me with."

"Okay...but I just want you to know that I totally don't believe in any of this mumbo-jumbo, and the only reason I am going along with it is because I trust you," Reimu warned, "don't make me regret it."

"O-of course not, Reimu-sempai..." Youmu replied nervously, 'So scary! Why did Yuyuko-sama have to pair me with her?'

Reimu sunk to the ground, and settled into a praying pose, with the card held between her hands, and began to breathe steadily in and out. Youmu was impressed as she saw the Yin-Yang orbs manifest around the girl's head once more, and then began to glow brightly.

Once the card in her hands also began to glow, Youmu quickly grabbed the card from the girl, and started chanting in the foreign language that Yuyuko-sama had been training her in for the last few months, in preparation for a new Tenshi that Yukari-sama had informed them would be appearing soon, and the card gave off another bright flash.

Youmu was surprised once again, as she saw Reimu-Sempai's uniform replaced by a ceremonial shrine maiden's uniform for a brief moment, before a second flash went off, and the girl slumped to the ground, panting loudly.

Youmu hid a small smile as she took a look at the card in her hand, and noted the picture of a Yin-Yang orb upon it, informing her that she'd done the sealing correctly. Returning her attention to her new partner, Youmu was reminded that Reimu was doubled over, gasping for air.

Hurrying to Reimu's side, Youmu offered the girl a bottle of water she'd had in her bag, and Reimu gladly took it, drinking greedily from the bottle and capping off with a content sigh, before smiling up at the girl in a way that made Youmu find herself blushing, "Arigatou Youmu-Chan!"

"I-it was no problem, Reimu-sempai," The younger girl replied, scratching her cheek nervously and looking away, as she held out the new spell card to the girl. It was taken with nary a word, and Reimu began to inspect the now decorated card curiously.

"So...this little card here, It has all of my power in it now?" The brown-haired girl asked, as she felt the card gently pulsing in her hand, like it had it's own heartbeat.

"It has most of your power in it Reimu-sempai," Youmu corrected, "You will still be able to see the supernatural, and you can most likely manifest a small portion of your powers without using your card, but for all intent and purposes you are now as close to 'normal' as you are going to get," The silver-haired girl explained.

"So what next Youmu-Chan?" Reimu asked, pocketing the card for now, and looking up at the girl.

Youmu opened her mouth to answer the girl, but was unfortunately cut off by the appearance of one of the teachers, "Oi, you two, stop slacking off and get back to your classes!"

"For now I suppose we will lead our 'normal' lives, and talk again after school," Youmu said, and bid the older girl farewell with a small bow, which Reimu mimed.

Once down the stairs and around the corner, far away from the brown haired girl, Youmu released a small squeal as her cheeks lit up in a bright blush. Holding her cheeks and feeling foolish did little to stop the fluttering of her heart, as the kendo enthusiast and swordswoman remembered the girl's kind words, only causing her to squeal again.

Floating nearby, unknown to the Tenshi, a blonde-haired woman was grinning to herself, "poor girl doesn't realize how much of a lady killer she is, if she has already stolen the heart of such a normally stoic girl. This ought prove entertaining," The woman said to herself.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

By the time lunch rolled around again, Reimu had become relatively used to the strange new vision gifted to her by her unleashed powers, and wasn't startled in the least as she noticed everything new about the people around her, some she had known for years.

She had quickly determined that yes, Marisa did seem to be wearing a witches hat, but when she went to try and steal it from the girl, her hand only met open air, and she was forced to make a quick explanation on the spot to her blonde-haired friend, who seemed to accept that her friend was simply sleep-deprived after yesterday. This sadly did little to stop her friend's other worries, though.

"You sure you're okay Reimu?" Marisa asked as the two sat down in the courtyard, "Having to go to the nurse two days in a row can't say anything good about your health."

"I am fine Marisa," Reimu growled, "I've obviously just been working too hard on the shrine, and haven't been getting enough sleep."

"You know Reimu, if you ever bothered to ask, any one of us would be happy to help you with the shrine, and I'm sure that the school board wouldn't mind you accepting a little extra help," Letty added, watching on with a small smile as Cirno took a huge bite of her sandwich, ignoring her older sisters warnings to eat slower. "It is a big job for just one girl."

"I have managed that shrine on my own for almost two years now, I do not need help with it," Reimu argued back.

"I think you're being a bit too hard-headed about this Reimu," Marisa started up again, "Just because the school board only assigned you to the job, doesn't mean you have to be too proud to not accept help from others from time to time."

Reimu growled, sick of listening to these girls question her abilities, and grabbed her backpack as she turned away, intending to storm off in a huff, but forgot about the fact they were sitting at a park bench, and tripped over the seat, causing Marisa to begin laughing at the top of her lungs.

Without another word, Reimu walked off, though several pairs of eyes followed the girl as she returned into the school.

Letty sighed as she regarded the stubborn girl's choice, Reimu was like that sometimes, and it seemed like the best plan was to leave the girl to her own devices for a while and let her calm down. That was what she was planning to do, until Marisa spoke up.

"You ought to go after her, I'm sure she needs some kind of emotional support right now, no matter how much she's trying to hide it," The blonde girl stated, causing Letty to turn and regard her other friend.

"We both know how Reimu is Marisa, when she's like this she needs her space," the older girl answered.

"Ah don't give me that, no girl walks away from nearly being killed by thugs without a little emotional damage, and I'm sure if it's you she'll be happy," The younger girl replied, wiggling her eyebrows to imply what she really meant.

"What do ya mean Marisa-Sempai?" Cirno asked, looking up from her sandwich, causing both girls to remember she was there. Marisa quickly put her hand on the younger girl's head and grinned down at her.

"Tell ya when you're older squirt," The blonde stated, causing Cirno to begin flailing her arms.

"I'm plenty old you Black-white thief!" The blue-haired girl began to complain, making Marisa laugh. Turning to regard her other friend, Marisa explained, "I'll watch your little sister, you go and try to cheer up Reimu before she levels the school."

Letty huffed at the thought. It was possible that the girl could level the school when she was angry, that girl was a firecracker. So the pale-haired girl grabbed her bag, gave Cirno a comforting pat on the head, and followed after their friend, unaware that she was being watched.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Reimu sighed as she slumped against the wall across from the door to the roof, which she had found, with some annoyance, was locked. No doubt this meant that Kazami-sensei was up there, tending to her plants, and did not want to be disturbed.

There weren't many other places for the girl to go though, to be honest. Her friends were outside, and after she stormed off, she didn't want to see their (especially Letty's) smug faces as she came crawling back, The shrine was a definite no, as she felt unsafe going there, even with Youmu's promise for protection, and most of the classrooms were locked during the lunch period.

Reimu was thus, surprised when, just down the hallway, a tall blonde-haired girl stepped out of classroom 4-C, with a pair of fairies on either shoulder, and noticed her, "Oh, Reimu-San, Konnichiwa."

"Konnichiwa, Margatroid-San," Reimu replied. She couldn't really greet the girl by her first name, as the two had never really spoken to one another. The only reason Reimu knew Alice Margatroid was through her connection to Marisa, and considering their on-and-off friendship (mostly due to Marisa's schemes and pranks) the pair had never been formally introduced.

"May I ask what brings you all the way up here?" Alice asked, slipping off her backpack as she took a seat next to the brown-haired girl, who noted that neither fairy seemed to move in the slightest, besides the barely noticeable movement of their tiny wings. She really had to ask Youmu-Chan about this supernatural vision the next time she saw her.

"I just felt like I needed somewhere to be alone, but unfortunately the door to the roof is locked, and I dare not intrude if Kazami-sensei is up there," Reimu explained, which earned an understanding nod from the doll maker.

"Am I close in assuming Marisa is the cause of your quest for solitude?" Alice asked with a small smile, which for some reason made Reimu want to smile as well.

"Hai, She is getting on my case about working too hard on the shrine again, and I just can't take it after what happened yesterday," The shrine maiden explained, sighing and laying her head back against the wall.

"Yes, Marisa is quite the abrasive personality sometimes, and I've found she doesn't understand things like personal space or boundaries," Alice explained, and Reimu nodded along, that sounded just like her friend, "But I am sure she is well-meaning."

"I don't doubt that she is, it's just that I don't want to accept help, it's my shrine, maybe not on paper, but I've worked on that shrine for the last year and a half, putting my own money into it, and working hard on it's upkeep, all by myself," Reimu explained.

"So you are simply too proud to accept help?" Alice asked, making Reimu groan. "Sorry, sorry, I'm assuming that's exactly what Marisa said?"

"And Letty," Reimu added, "They never offered to help before, and I don't see why they're bothering now, when I've managed just fine up until I nearly get attacked."

"Have you ever considered they may be worried about you?" a softer voice asked, and both girls jumped.

"Ah, Patchoulli-San, what a surprise to see you out of the library," Alice commented dryly, but was promptly ignored by the purple-haired girl.

"Well...they might just be worried about me, but they've voiced their concern about me overworking myself before, and I don't think they've ever offered to ease the workload on my shoulders," Reimu replied, looking at the girl with the moniker of "knowledge."

"Perhaps it is because they didn't think they needed to," Patchy continued, "Maybe they simply thought the silent offer would be enough to catch your attention, and are only now coming to realize that if you are not picking up on them, they must resort to more direct measures," The asthmatic girl pointed out.

"You think that, all this time, they've always wanted to help?" Reimu asked, and received a nod from both girls.

"It does make sense, even though Marisa is anything but subtle," Reimu noted that Alice's eyes shot across from her at the purple-haired girl, before returning her attention to the shrine maiden, "When it comes to you she seems to be much more vague in her offers."

"And Letty-sempai would not simply spell out what her words implied," Patchy continued without missing a beat, "That girl is a master of subtlety, and even the most famed psychologists would have a field day attempting to pick her brain."

"I would simply like to know if Cirno-Chan and Letty-sempai are actually related, they act so differently," Alice commented, but was silenced by a look from the girl on Reimu's other side.

"God I can be such an idiot sometimes," Reimu groaned, laying her head back again, "You really think that all this time they've been hinting that they've wanted to help me out, but I've simply been too dense to pick up on it."

"Most likely."

"I wouldn't be surprised."

"Well great, now I just feel bad for snapping at them like that," Reimu grumbled, but was caught off-guard as the two girls began to laugh. "What could possibly be funny about that?"

"Reimu-san, I don't think you have to feel bad about that, those two are a headache to try and read at the worst of times," Alice began, and her sentence was quickly picked up by the other girl, "much like trying to read the work of Shakespeare."

"Besides, Marisa would most likely never accept your apology, since she wouldn't see what you did as wrong," Alice continued, "In fact, I doubt she was even really hurt by what you said in the first place, that girl has thicker skin that the legendary dragons."

"Well, maybe not a greater dragon," Patchy commented, "But if she could learn to breathe fire, she could pass as a lesser dragon."

"And what does breathing fire have to do with her being dragon-like?" Alice asked, and Reimu noted how the girl's fairies seemed to be gaining life, as they flew from the girl's shoulders and were now hovering on either side of her.

"Many of the more powerful dragons in lore can breathe fire, I assume it is a sign of strength among them, and if Kirisame-san could not breathe fire, then she would simply be a komodo dragon, one of the most boring subspecies of dragons next to drakes."

"Would you really want Marisa to be able to breathe fire?" Alice asked, as Reimu noticed one of her fairies beginning to blush with a goofy grin, while the other now had it's arms crossed and was looking indignant. She had to wonder if these fairies were somehow tied into the girl's subconscious, but brushed it off as another question to ask Youmu later that evening.

"I'll just excuse you two to your argument then, and thank you for the advice Margatroid-san, Knowledge-san," Reimu stated as she grabbed her backpack and made a hasty retreat, stopping to bow to the two girls, which went unnoticed as they continued to argue.

"My, Marisa does make some strange friends," The girl said to herself as she began to make her way to fifth period.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Reimu found the rest of the day, following her talk with Marisa's friends, passed in a relative calm. She met up with Marisa outside of their fifth period class, and the girl was still giving her that goofy, all-knowing grin that made Reimu positive that the two girls had been right in suggesting that she wasn't going to hold a grudge against her.

Reimu tried to ask the other girl for help in class, and was pleasantly surprised by how willingly Marisa gave her hints and suggestions with her work, only further cementing the point the pair of bookworms had offered.

Finally though, Reimu was forced to face her demons, and after bidding farewell to her friends at the front gates, and assuring them that she would be fine, having to remind them that Youmu would be there with her, Reimu stepped to the back of the school, and climbed the stairs up to the shrine.

She wasn't surprised to find Youmu already sitting at the shrine, wearing her green dress with her long hair and blades, calmly sipping from a cup of tea Reimu couldn't fathom the origins of.

"Hey Youmu-Chan," Reimu greeted, and smiled at the small nod the girl gave her. Taking a seat next to the girl, Reimu waited for her junior to break the silence.

"We received our first assignment," Youmu announced to the older girl, just as both girls phones went off in their pockets, startling the shrine maiden. Fumbling with the apron pocket of her shrine uniform for a moment, Reimu finally managed to extract the phone, the same time as Youmu pulled hers from her breast pocket, and both flipped them open simultaneously.

flashing across the screen was a small mail icon, and Reimu followed Youmu's movements in order to open the message, where only a short line had been typed.

**Hunt down the Youkai that invaded the school grounds, bring them to justice.**

**-Ran**

"So, who is Ran?" Reimu immediately asked once Youmu snapped the phone shut, and she followed along, turning to regard the white-haired girl.

"Ran is both our vice-principle, and Yukari-Sama's personal assistant," The swordswoman explained calmly, "She is also a Youkai."

Reimu spluttered at the blunt news, "A Youkai! I thought that we were supposed to be hunting Youkai, how can we have one simply wandering the school, let alone her being our vice-principle!"

"Yukari-Sama beat her in combat a very long time ago, and spared her life in exchange for Ran-Sama binding her powers to Yukari, and has been her servant ever since," Youmu answered.

"So we could potentially spare Youkai, if we can get them to agree to bind their powers to someone?" Reimu asked, and received a small nod. "Then why do we have to hunt them at all, when it sounds like Yukari-Sama could simply beat every Youkai and have them dedicate themselves to her?"

"The problem is that each person can only have so many Youkai bound to them, and binding more than your soul can manage could kill you," Youmu replied, "Very few people can manage binding more than one Youkai's powers to them, and we are severely undermanned in the first place, so peaceful resolutions are unfortunately not an option."

"But, what about the Youkai that don't pose a threat?" Reimu asked, already nearly in hysterics, "We simply kill them in cold blood because we have no one that can bind their powers?"

Youmu looked away from the girl, her face solemn, "We try our very best to save all of the Youkai that we can, but sometimes a quick and painless death is a mercy compared to what could happen to them."

"Like what?" Reimu choked out.

"Those Youkai that we defeat, but do not kill or bind, are often later killed by their kin, for only the sin of losing," Youmu explained.

"God that's...horrible..." Reimu muttered. "And there is nothing we can do?"

"Nothing that we have been able to think of so far, but we try our best to save as many Youkai as we can, and we offer the rest a respectful death in order to put their souls at ease."

"But not all Youkai are like that, are they?" Reimu asked darkly.

"No, There are many Youkai that see killing humans as merely a game, sport for their amusement, like those six that attacked you. Some like to take on weak targets like you were, Tenshi whose powers had yet to be unleashed, in order to become more powerful themselves, by what is basically eating your power," Youmu stated, "I have seen it, and it changes how you see the world forever."

Youmu was startled by the abrupt hug her partner pulled her into, and blushed noticeably as she all but melted into it, the tense aura around the shrine lifting.

"I promise I will do everything in my power to try and think of a way to save all of the Youkai, every one that is willing to surrender, so we do not have to spill any more blood on our hands, Youmu-Chan."

The two girls remained hugging for a short time, as the night wore on, unaware of the person watching them from high above.

"A bold promise, but you are yet a newly risen Tenshi, shrine maiden. Can you be the Guardian angel that the demons need?" Yukari said to herself, before floating away into the night.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 2 complete**

**stay tuned for chapter 3**


	3. Chapter 3

Reimu followed the silver-haired girl as the two jumped from roof to roof, now wearing her ceremonial shrine maiden's garb, instead of the school's cheap knock-off, and watching the girl's long hair fly in the wind.

"So how do we find these Youkai then, Youmu-San?" The newly christened Tenshi asked, trying to keep in step with the girl, and avoid tripping on the slightly slippery rooftops.

"The phones that each Tenshi is given also doubles as a method of tracking down Youkai which need to be brought to justice, rather, the ones that have considered, or have already done heinous acts, such as killing someone," The swordswoman explained.

"Really?" Reimu asked, pulling her phone from the pocket she'd found conveniently sewn into her skirt. as soon as she took hold of the phone, she could feel it gently pulsing, much like her spell card, but this felt more urging.

"It pulses more ferociously the closer we are to the Youkai we have been assigned to hunt, and it changes it's speed as we get on the correct path to finding them," Youmu stated.

"So you mean if I turned say, left, then it would slow down?" Reimu asked, receiving a nod of consent. The girl returned the tool to her pocket, surprised that she hadn't crashed into anything while distracted, which brought up another thought, "How have I not crashed into anything yet, when this is my first time doing this?"

"Not even Yukari-sama has found an explanation for that, to be honest," Youmu admitted sheepishly, "It seems to simply come naturally when a Tenshi's power awakens, and no one has ever been concerned enough to study it in depth."

Reimu nodded as she continued to follow her friend, partner, and mentor, hoping she knew where she was going. The pair stopped on a roof a few blocks away, and Youmu pulled out her phone.

Reimu nearly toppled over the edge of the building at the sudden stop, but managed to right herself, and turn to her mentor, "Is this the place?"

"No, it's the strangest thing but it would seem that we've lost the trail..." Youmu admitted, "This is odd, we've never simply lost a trail before..."

"Could it have something to do with my emotional attachment to this case?" Reimu offered, but the younger girl shook her head.

"We have to take into account that these Youkai are working as a pack, and yet managed to sneak onto school property, which is overseen by many Tenshi most of all Yukari-sama, unnoticed, and got away," Youmu supplied, "Perhaps their powers include scan dampening, it would explain a few things."

"So what do we do boss?" Reimu asked, kicking her feet over the side of the roof as she looked up at the moon, not noticing the way her partner's face went bright red at the title.

"F-for now we might as well call it a night, and I will talk with Yukari-Sama tomorrow about the case. You should head home anyways, it is hard for new Tenshi to get used to our unusual hours, and as I understand, you already get very little sleep," Youmu advised.

Reimu nodded in agreement, and prepared to run off, when a piercing scream echoed from down the street, causing both girls heads to snap up.

"Someone's in trouble!" Reimu cried, and charged off, ignoring Youmu's shouting to wait.

Quickly clearing the distance, Reimu came to a stop overlooking an alleyway, where what appeared to be a wolf man was standing over a young woman, with it's claws raised above it's head, ready to kill her.

Finding an unknown bravery, even though her legs were shaking as she flashed through memories of the last few days, Reimu shouted out, "Oi, leave her alone!"

Catching the attention of the monster, it's head turned to regard the shrine maiden, and it snorted as it regarded her, "Doesn't look like much, quite a tasty morsel you lot will be," it growled out, before jumping at the wall and rebounding, coming flying up at the girl.

"Oh shi-" Reimu jumped out of the way of the attack, and watched as the creature continued flying towards another nearby rooftop, it's claws digging into the shingles below and causing them to fly up in all directions.

Reimu found herself mildly grossed out by the drool dripping from the wolf man's maw as he stared at her, but cleared her throat and managed to find her voice, "Creature of hell, I will not let you hurt that girl," as she said this, she found previously unknown information coming to mind, and she held out her hand.

in between each finger, she found paper talisman appearing, and the girl took a tight hold of them as she stared down the beast.

The two seemed to be in a perpetual staring contest, until the beast snarled at her and pounced, forcing Reimu to dodge again, but this time she swung her arm, sending the paper talisman flying at the beast. She was pleased when each found their mark, and caused the beast to cry out in pain from the holy power stored within.

"A lucky blow, but it will be your first and your last, whelp!" The beast shouted, and Reimu gasped as the creature disappeared.

"Reimu-Sempai, you shouldn't have rushed off ahead," Youmu warned as she finally appeared, only for Reimu to have to push the girl out of the way of a claw which came from the darkness. Reimu didn't come out of the exchange unscathed, a few shallow cuts opening in her chest, and she tumbled onto her back.

In a blink the creature was upon her, drooling down on her as his claws were poised to deliver the killing blow, "Tasty morsel, just Die!"

and then a spray of blood showered down on the shrine maiden, causing her to flinch.

The creature remained stock still for a moment, before it's head slumped down, all life gone from its eyes, and it's arms went slack, giving Reimu the chance to crawl away from the fresh corpse.

"As I was saying Reimu-san, you shouldn't rush ahead on your own," Youmu chastised, standing behind the creature, one of her swords plunged through it's torso, right through the creatures heart. She quickly withdrew the blade, allowing the monster to fall lifelessly to the ground where Reimu noted with detached fascination it began to disintegrate. Youmu seemed uninterested in this, and pulled a silk cloth from her pocket, beginning to clean her blade with it.

"I-I'm sorry," Reimu replied, still wide-eyed after realizing she had once again almost had her life taken by a monster.

"It is okay for you to be worried about civilians, Reimu-sempai, but we are assigned partners for a reason," The girl continued, elegantly returning her blade to it's sheathe with a flick of her wrist, before giving her friend a small smile, "I do not know what I would do if I had to tell Yukari-sama that my partner died on her first night."

"I will do my best not to disappoint on future missions," Reimu assured, climbing back to her feet and wiping the blood from her face as best she could. She was startled as she noticed the wide smile the samurai was giving her, "What?"

"For a first showing of your powers, you did not do half bad Reimu-san," Youmu admitted, "Very few Tenshi at your level would have been able to sense an attack coming, and even fewer would have the grasp on their powers that you seem to have. That was the first time you summoned your Ofuda, wasn't it?"

"Yes, I just suddenly knew how to, and then they appeared," The older girl explained, "It was almost like I already had the knowledge, it had simply been locked away somewhere in my mind."

"That sometimes happens," The younger replied, "Some people believe that our powers come from our ancestry, such as Yukari-Sama's ability of astral projection or my own family history as Samurai and swordsmen, but others don't seem to add up, such as Kazami-sensei's mastery over flowers and the earth."

"W-wait a second, Yuuka-sensei is a Tenshi?" Reimu asked, receiving a nod.

"You wouldn't expect it from her, but Yuuka-sensei is one of the most powerful Tenshi to have awakened, which leads at least Yuyuko-sama and Yukari-sama to believe that she has a very long family history, and that perhaps one of her extended ancestors might have been an earth or harvest goddess."

"Wow..."

"It is quite a lot to take in," Youmu said, "Now, seeing as how we've had some fun tonight, I will see you tomorrow at school Reimu-san. And please remember, if you hear anyone screaming or calling for help, do not engage."

"But what if they really need our help, and it's a Youkai?" Reimu asked, not feeling well with leaving someone to possibly die.

"Do not worry, even if it doesn't seem like it, there is always a Tenshi out there, ready to help those in need," Youmu said, "We may be few in number compared to the Youkai, but we do not shirk on our duty."

"Alright..." Reimu wasn't sure if she could believe the younger girl, but considering how honest Youmu had been with her so far, she didn't think there was any reason to not trust her word.

"Goodnight Youmu-Chan," Reimu said with a small smile, waving to the younger girl before bolting off back towards her house.

"Goodnight Reimu-Kun," Youmu whispered, blushing as she looked up at the moon, and her wispy self circled her head.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Reimu awoke with a groan the next morning, feeling more sore than she had ever before, but was startled as she came face to face with bright blue eyes.

"Hi Reimu-sempai!" Cirno shouted at her, causing Reimu to jump out of bed in shock.

"Holy crap Cirno, what was that for?" The shrine maiden shouted back, attempting to stop her racing heart. The young girl sitting on her bed cocked her head to the side and began to blink at her, making her anger melt away at the pure cuteness.

"Letty-Nee-San said to come and wake you up, since we need to leave for school soon," The younger girl explained, making the older sigh in annoyance.

"Would you please go and tell your older sister that having you scare the living daylights out of me every morning is not a pleasant way to wake up," Reimu grumbled, and was surprised at the nod she got in return. Watching as Cirno jumped off the bed and darted from the room, Reimu didn't have much hope for the girl remembering her message by the time she got down the stairs. Cirno may be adorable, but she was still an idiot.

Quickly changing into her uniform, Reimu hurried down the stairs, where she found her familiar group seated around her kitchen table, eating her groceries.

"I've said I'm sorry a hundred times now Alice-Chan, how many more times do you need to see me grovelling before you forgive me!" Marisa cried in mock despair, though everyone knew she was simply faking it to try and earn pity.

"I'm thinking 900 more times ought to suffice," The blonde doll maker replied, taking a sip from her tea, "This is very good Letty-Sempai, would you mind sharing the recipe?"

"A thousand times? Honestly Alice, it was just one doll!" The black-white complained, before slumping in her chair like a spoilt child, but was ignored.

Seated next to the doll maker was the purple-haired library ghost, Patchoulli, who, as always, had a book open on the table, while half of her attention was taken by a similar cup of tea, "I must agree with Alice, you make a very good cup, though perhaps not as good as Sakuya-san."

"Oh, thank you both," Letty replied, keeping her attention on the stove, where breakfast was cooking, "Ah, good morning Reimu-san, nice to see that Cirno-Chan managed to wake you up before we were late."

"Letty, next time you want me up at a certain time, come and do it yourself, instead of sending your midget in to scare the daylights out of me, please," Reimu muttered, grabbing a chair next to Marisa, and half slumping over the table.

"Long night, Hakurei-san?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"Hai, I was up all night studying again, trying to make heads or tails of another set of books I dug out of the Storehouse with Youmu-San's help," Reimu covered, surprised at how quickly the lie came to mind, but knowing she couldn't tell the girls the truth.

She did note with some amusement how one of the girl's fairies seemed to look perplexed, while the other was glaring directly at Marisa, but decided not to bring it up. Being able to cheat and see Alice's emotions through her fairies was already pushing it, and she didn't know the girl nearly well enough to talk to her about something so bizarre.

"Aww, more boring books written in that funny language Reimu, how lame!" Cirno complained, but was stopped by a hand on her head, belonging to her older sister.

"Now, now Cirno-Onee-Chan, what Reimu chooses to do with her time is up to her, just like you enjoy spending your time down by the lake with your friends, catching frogs," Letty gently chastised.

"Speaking of that squirt, have you ever ran into problems dealing with Sanae's crazy Aunt? The one who's all against animal dissection?" Marisa asked, cheerfully taking the plate Letty was now offering her.

"I am not a squirt!" The girl immediately shouted, "But um yeah, we sometimes see Suwako-Baa-Chan down there, but she says as long as we don't hurt the frogs she won't yell at us. Rumia doesn't like it though because she's always talking about how good they taste," all of the girls looked away in disgust at the thought of the oddest member of Cirno's group, while the blue-haired girl dug into her breakfast.

"Speaking of that family, I have not seen Sanae-san around the school since that day you were nearly attacked at the shrine Reimu-san," Patchy spoke up, "I wonder if her disappearance might have something to do with the failed attack."

That was when Reimu remembered Yukari's warning the other day, about how they had been investigating how those Youkai had snuck into the school, and how Sanae had practically sent her to them.

"I-I'm sure that she's just fine, and will be back in a few more days," Reimu said, laughing and sounding unconvincing, even to herself. The other girls simply gave her a look, before returning to their own breakfast.

"By the way, thank you for inviting us over today Letty-Sempai, you really didn't have to," Alice said, making Reimu raise an eyebrow, forgetting about her worries.

"Oh, it was no problem, the more guests the better," The older girl replied, aware of the look she was being sent, and promptly ignoring it, "and besides, you are both friends of Marisa, which makes you welcome."

"Friends is stretching it a bit," Alice commented icily, and Reimu noted how both of her fairies were staring intently at the monochrome thief, and laughed.

"Oh C'mon Alice-Chan, don't be like that," Marisa replied weakly, reaching out for the girl's hand, but flinched away as a fork was stabbed into the table inches from where her hand had been previously.

"Don't you Alice-Chan me Kirisame," Alice said coldly, and stormed from the room, though she stopped a moment to give the other girls a small curtsey, "Thank you for the meal Letty-Sempai, Reimu-San, I will see you all at school."

Once the door slammed, Marisa let out the breath she had been holding, and slumped in her chair, "That girl is scary sometimes."

"It's any wonder she's so angry at you, you did orchestrate the destruction of one of her precious dolls," Patchy commented, and received an indignant squawk from the blonde.

"Hey, you took part in that prank as well, don't act like you aren't at least somewhat at fault," Marisa tried to defend herself.

"The only reason that I was involved was because you lied to me," The violet-haired girl answered, and closed her latest encyclopedia with a quiet bang, before pushing out her chair and leaving without even a goodbye.

"Oh my Marisa but you do pick the strangest love interests," Letty commented, before returning her attention to the after-breakfast cleanup.

"Hey, I never said I loved either of them, don't be putting words in my mouth, Sempai or not," Marisa shot back, but went ignored. Cirno began laughing at the other girls expense, while Reimu sighed.

She had some very strange friends.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 3 complete**

**I would like to bring to everyone's attention a couple matters, and a small quest for assistance for future chapters.**

**Y'see, I'm not Japanese (I'm Canadian), and most of my knowledge of Japanese words and phrases come from Anime and manga, which is all mostly self-taught.**

**Therefore, I'm still a bit unsure of certain Japanese suffixes, and the internet just doesn't seem to have the answers I'm looking for. So here's what I would like you to do to help.**

**I have been using suffixes like -Chan, -San, -Kun, and -Sempai, as well as what I'm sort of sure are the Feminine suffixes for siblings -Onee (older sister), and -Nee (younger sister), but I have never been 100% sure on the definition of some of these, and where they are appropriately used.**

**From what I know so far, San is a suffix applied to people you respect, and those you see as your equals, example, classmates. -Sama, on the other hand, applies to people of nobility, or great respect, such as Yukari, who is the principal, the top of the school food chain, and Yuyuko, who Youmu works for, and therefore highly respects.**

**This is where I start to lose information. I know that Nee and Onee are feminine suffix applied to a big sister/little sister, but I have never been sure of the order, That is, I get them mixed up in the definition. Chan is another one, all I have been able to figure out is that it is an affectionate term given to those you care about, but from what info I've found online, it seems to be a term used mostly towards children, such as calling a child kiddo in other languages.**

**The only thing that contradicts this is Persona 4, where the -Chan suffix seems to be used as an affectionate term among the main cast, and they all use it to refer to each other either teasingly or literally. Or maybe I'm remembering the game wrong (It was a lets play).**

**-Kun is the one I have the most reservation in using, as from what I have learned, it seems to be a term used only for those you love, or have a high affection for, like Girlfriends/Boyfriends, thus my hesitation.**

**If anyone can shed some light on the proper use of these suffix, I'd most likely love you forever, and if you can offer a few others that I'm unaware of/didn't list, It would help a lot with future chapters, as I'm trying to remain as true to the series heritage as I can, by applying the Japanese suffix and terms to their speech.**

**Also, am I the only one that finds using -Chan sounds a little condescending? I don't know, when I hear it spoken it sounds insulting. Maybe that's just me.**

**Ja Ne!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Real Quick, I wish to offer thanks to both Basrutten and ForAllEternity987 for their help with Suffix troubleshooting, and want to apologize for any earlier mistakes I've made regarding the Japanese language.**

**The people in charge of Localization have been sacked. And whoever gets that reference gets an imaginary Cookie.**

**Ja Ne!**

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Morning classes passed relatively quickly for the newly awakened Tenshi, but Reimu found herself taking occasional looks over her shoulder, at the seat of her green-haired classmate, who had indeed been missing for the last two days.

'I need to ask Youmu, if not Yukari-Sama, if they've learned anything about her involvement yet,' The shrine maiden thought to herself, before returning to her class work, though the thought continued to bother her for the rest of the morning.

Luckily by the time Lunch came around once again, she had mostly been able to ignore the nagging question, and met up with Marisa to go to their normal table, where the blonde girl offered her the usual bag lunch she so graciously made for her friend almost every day.

"Oh Marisa-Chan, what would I do without you," Reimu sighed dreamily, as she unpacked the lunch, noting how her friend blushed at her airy tone.

"Shrivel up and die, most likely," Marisa tried to joke back, but Reimu could tell she was uncomfortable from the girl's half-smile. She ended up brushing it off, and began to eat, but was soon distracted by something out of the corner of her eye, "Oh hey, there goes Youmu-Chan."

"So? I know she saved your life and all Reimu, but she's still a year below us," Marisa said dryly.

"Don't be like that Marisa-Chan, I'll be right back," The brown haired girl said, and hurried over to the silver-haired girl, "Ohaiyo Youmu-Chan!"

"Ah, Reimu-Sempai, what is it?" The younger girl asked, looking around nervously. She was startled as the older girl grabbed her hand, and began to drag her along behind her to the table she had been sharing with Marisa.

"Come sit and eat with us," The brown-haired girl offered, making Marisa squawk in indignation, "Oi Reimu, you have to stop inviting all of these freeloaders along, or else people will get the wrong ideas."

Reimu gently pushed Youmu into a seat beside her, before taking up her own place once more, and began to dig in anew, smiling to herself. Once she at least had a bite, she turned to regard her long-time friend, "Marisa-Chan, Youmu-Chan saved my life, and is going out of her way to protect me. The least I can do is be friendly to her, and besides, the poor girl was all by herself," The shrine maiden explained, before turning to regard her silver-haired partner, "You don't mind, do you Youmu-Chan?"

"I...err," Youmu spluttered out nervously in response, and Reimu gave an understanding nod, before glaring at her other friend, "You don't mind, do you Ma-Ri-Sa-Chan?" She emphasised the words to push her point home 'do not argue with me about this.'

"Yeah, fine," The blonde huffed, resting her cheek on her hand and pouting, but not putting up any more of a fuss. Giving a content smile, Reimu turned to her new friend as a recent question came back to mind.

"So Youmu-Chan, have you heard any rumours about where Sanae-San might have disappeared to?" The brunette asked at face level, but what she was implying was 'Have you gotten any information about her involvement?"

"No, it would seem that no one in my class has really noticed Sanae-Sempai's disappearance," Youmu replied, the answer was clear, making Reimu groan.

"Why do you care so much about her anyways Reimu?" Marisa asked, "We don't even really talk with Sanae, except when it comes to group work."

"She is our class-mate Marisa-Chan, that means we should be at least a little bit concerned when the good girl of the class goes missing for two days after another student was nearly attacked on school grounds," Reimu chastised.

"I didn't mean anything like that, besides, She's probably just home sick or something," Marisa offered, before returning to her pouting. This did give Reimu an idea, and she turned to regard her partner, but was dismayed by the subtle shrug she received, making her pout as well.

"Oh my, it would seem we have attracted another one," an airy voice said, causing the three girls to turn and find Letty standing there, holding the hand of Cirno. Alice and Patchy were also on either side of the girl, though both had their noses in books.

"Oh great, the gangs all here," Marisa muttered, before blowing a raspberry at Alice.

"Please try and act your age for once Marisa-Chan," Alice chided, before taking a seat beside her fellow blonde, and pulling out her own lunch. Patchy said nothing, and took a seat next to Youmu, so she would be sitting across from Marisa, and the Whiterock sisters took opposite sides of the bench, facing each other.

"I wouldn't have to act my age if you'd grow a sense of humour Alice-Chan," Marisa teased, her good mood miraculously returning at the prospect of harassing her friend. Reimu knew no good could come of this.

"So Youmu-Chan, what brings you to our little corner of the world?" Letty asked, while keeping a careful eye on her little sister, who was happily and surprisingly quietly eating her own lunch.

"Oh umm, Reimu-Sempai had me come over to sit with you all in thanks for the work I've been doing helping her reorganize the shrine, and protecting her," The girl quickly supplied, though Reimu knew it was a lie, and began to wonder if bold faced lies were another aspect of being a Tenshi.

"Hey Youmu-Sempai, isn't kendo just hitting people with big sticks?" Cirno suddenly asked, gaining everyone's attention, and causing the argument between Marisa and Alice that Reimu had been ignoring to stop for the moment.

"Well, kind of," Youmu offered, unsure of how to explain it to the younger girl.

"Then isn't what me and my friends do down at the lake Kendo? we swing sticks at each other and play fight with them," The girl announced, sounding rather proud of herself.

"I think Kendo is a little more complicated than that, Bozu," Marisa said, patting the young girl on the head, mostly to get a rise out of her.

"Hey, isn't that the principal?" Alice asked, once again gaining everyone's attention as they all turned towards the main entrance to the school.

"Yeah, that's weird, you don't usually see Principal Yakumo come out of her cave," Marisa said, and was promptly smacked over the back of the head by Alice.

"Show at least a little respect for our principal, you monochrome thief," Alice hissed, though Marisa seemingly took the jab as a challenge, and the pair were off once again in an argument.

Reimu was about ready to break the two up, when she felt a hand on her wrist, and found Youmu helping her to her feet, "C'mon Reimu-Sempai, she probably wants to talk to us about that incident the other day," The girl explained urgently, and Reimu nodded in understanding.

"I do hope that you won't be in trouble about what happened," Letty said, watching Marisa and Alice continue arguing with some amusement, though her real attention was on the two girls, and how Youmu was still holding her Senior's wrist.

"Don't worry Letty-sempai, she most likely just wants to ask us a few questions, and then we'll be free to go," Reimu explained, and followed Youmu after their principal, who had retreated back inside the building. Letty's eyes didn't stop following the pair until they disappeared from view, then she finally got up to break apart the warring blondes.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Luckily the Principal's office was on the first floor, which saved the three girls from an extended awkward silence, but Reimu did notice that the entire time Youmu had not released her arm, and in fact may have tightened her grip upon it.

Once the three were safely in the office, and Yukari-sama had closed and locked the door, they each released a breathe they didn't know they'd been holding.

"I so rarely leave my office these days that I'm not used to making public appearances," Yukari commented as she crossed the room and took a seat at her desk, interlocking her fingers and resting her chin upon them casually. Both girl's took the silent offer and found seats before the older woman's desk, waiting for her to begin. "Last night Ran-Chan finally found some information regarding the Kochiya girl, which I thought you might be interested in, but I didn't think was fair to only tell Youmu-Chan about."

"So what is it Yukari-Sama, where has Sanae-San disappeared to?" Reimu asked urgently, wanting to get the answers as soon as possible.

"Girls, there had never been a Sanae Kochiya at Mayohiga Secondary, it was all an elaborate ruse caused by a group of Youkai, so that they could infiltrate the school," Yukari replied straight faced.

"W-what?" Reimu was understandably surprised about this knowledge. The girl she had known for 5 years, since the girl transferred in from a different area, had always been a lie?

Unfortunately, the moment was ruined as Yukari could no longer contain her mirth, and began laughing at the top of her lungs, making both girls blanche at her, "Oh you two should have seen your faces."

A blonde woman appeared behind the principal, and swiftly smacked her in the back of the head, "Yukari-Sama, please be serious for a moment, would you."

Reimu immediately noticed the long, furry ears protruding from the woman's hair, and the four fluffy tails that waved behind her, and quickly recognized her from Youmu's description. This was Ran, the Youkai who had been dominated by Yukari-Sama.

The brunette immediately stiffened, which was noticed by everyone in the room, "Is something wrong Reimu-Chan? I know my joke was a little harsh, but there's no need to be so surprised."

"Err, actually Yukari-Sama, I think it might have something to do with your Shikigami, who I mentioned to Reimu-Sempai the other night as part of her initiation," Youmu explained, "She has not had very good encounters with Youkai so far, and from the picture I painted, Ran-Sama is a fairly powerful one, in order to stand against you in combat."

"I'm sorry Yukari-Sama," Reimu quickly snapped out of her daze, "Anyways, you were saying about Sanae-San."

"Oh yeah, that," The older woman replied casually, "She's just fine, came down with a nasty cold the day after that terrible incident at the shrine, and has been home sick. for the last two days, being nursed back to health by her two aunts," The woman quickly explained.

"Then how did she know about the fake inspection?" The girls asked simultaneously.

"She was tricked into hearing the information from two of the Youkai among the group that intended to attack Reimu-Chan, but for what reason, as we know they originally intended to ambush her after school, remains currently unknown," Yukari told the pair.

"So two of their own sabotaged their plans, in order to get me to show up before they were ready?" Reimu asked, "Do you think they intended to get all six of them caught by Youmu-Chan here, and had been intending to betray the rest of the group?"

"That remains to be seen," Ran spoke up, making Reimu shiver at her cold and calculating tone, "as we do not have any of their numbers to interrogate, and considering all of my attempts to track them down have proven fruitless, we are left with simply theories, which cannot be trusted."

"So what would you have us do next, Yukari-Sama?" Youmu asked the older woman.

"For now, continue Reimu-Chan's training as planned, and wait for orders from either Ran-Chan or myself. We will be having you go out on active patrol tonight, after seeing Reimu-Chan's performance the previous night, and believe that it will help her hone her abilities further," Yukari explained.

"Understood," The two girls replied.

"With all of that said, you two should hurry to your fifth period classes, and try not to think too hard about this strange case we are beginning to see unfold. Leave this matter to us for now."

"The two of you are dismissed," Ran announced, receiving a nod from the pair, and they marched out of the room.

Once the door was shut once more, Reimu felt she could finally breathe normally again, and doubled over, "Oh my god but that woman has such a suffocating aura," Reimu complained, referring to Ran.

She jumped as she felt a small hand rubbing her back, and looked up to find Youmu smiling at her, "Don't worry about it, many newly awakened Tenshi get that way around Ran-Sama, she is very imposing."

"Imposing might be an understatement," The older girl replied, before straightening up, "Thank you again."

"It's no trouble Reimu-Sempai, now c'mon, like Yukari-Sama said, we ought to hurry to our next classes."

"Okay, I'll see you tonight Youmu-Chan," The brunette said, running ahead and waving over her shoulder at the younger girl.

Youmu blushed as she watched the girl go, before snapping to attention as the bell rang for fifth period, causing her to fly into a panic.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 4 - Complete**

**And I'd like to note, if I'm still making any errors in the Japanese translations, please let me know, I'm trying to be as authentic as I can about this.**

**Before anyone asks, yes Marisa's disrespectful lack of honorific is intentional. She's just like that.**

**Stay tuned for Chapter 5**


	5. Chapter 5

The final bell rang, and everyone went off in a mad dash to get out of the school, while Reimu took a more leisurely pace, and quietly collected her things from her locker, before swapping out her shoes and stepping out into the courtyard.

She immediately spotted Letty and Marisa standing by the gate, waiting for her and chatting about something, and she quickened her pace to catch up to the two girls.

"Ah, there you are Reimu-Chan, we were hoping to be able to walk home with you tonight," Letty explained as the three girls started off from the school.

"Yeah, feels like we've hardly spent any time together lately except during the morning," Marisa added, "like you've been too busy with the shrine again, or all the aftermath of that failed attack on you the other day."

"Could we please stop talking about that for one day," Reimu groaned, making her friends laugh. Unfortunately, the girl's walk was cut off abruptly by the sound of something vibrating in Reimu's backpack, which caused her to stop and begin digging through it, eventually coming up with her phone.

"Reimu, I didn't know you had a phone now, how'd you afford it?" Marisa asked in surprise, and Letty seemed equally mystified.

"It's a long story, sorry, I need to check this real quick," Reimu apologized, before flipping open the phone and quickly scrolling to the mail screen, where a short message had been jotted.

**Meet me at the lake closest to the school, urgent business.**

**-Youmu**

Reimu felt her blood run cold as she re-read the message, before looking up at her two friends, and finally noticed something missing, "Letty-Sempai, where is Cirno-Chan?"

Letty at first seemed to not catch the question, but quickly understood, "She chose to go home with her other friends, and said that they were going to be going past the lake, maybe stop to play for a bit. She promised that she would be home before it got dark though," The girl assured the pair.

That was the absolute last thing that the brunette wanted to hear though, and Reimu swore she could feel her heart drop into her feet as she suddenly bolted off, ignoring her friends cries for her to wait, and thankful of her late grandfather (rest his soul) for forcing her into taking care of her body and staying in shape, as she easily outran her friends.

Luckily the lake was only a few blocks away from the school, so the shrine maiden was on the scene as fast as her legs could carry her, luck remaining on her side as she encountered no traffic, and quickly found her partner standing by the roadside.

"I didn't expect you to get here so quickly Reimu-Sempai," Youmu said, and Reimu noted she was already transformed, meaning that it had to be Youkai, and that her best friend's little sister might be in there.

"What is the situation?" Reimu asked sternly, which seemed to take Youmu aback, but the silver-haired girl cleared her throat and explained.

"I was just packing up after my last class, when I got the call from Ran-Sama, that a Youkai was detected by the lake, and that we were to be on the scene as soon as possible, since this is a high-traffic location," Youmu answered.

Hearing everything that she felt was needed, Reimu tried to push past the shorter girl, but it turned out Youmu was much stronger than her, especially when her powers were not released, "Hold on Reimu-sempai."

"I can't hold on Youmu-Chan, my best friend's little sister might be in there along with a dangerous Youkai, and if she finds it before we do, I would never forgive myself," The girl snapped, before reaching into her bag and retrieving her spell card.

Holding the card above her head caused it to flash, and in a burst of wind, Reimu was now wearing her shrine maiden outfit, and had three Yin-Yang orbs circling her.

"I know how you probably feel Reimu-Sempai, but we can't rush into this, remember the other night when you entered the fray without thinking," The silver-haired girl reminded, as her wisp floated lazily around the pair.

Biting her lip, Reimu refused to admit that she did remember what happened, but waited for her partner to continue. She was surprised when Youmu simply gestured for her to follow, "C'mon, if there are a group of children in there, then we need to find them, or the Youkai, quickly."

"H-Hai!" Reimu stated, and followed the girl, absently summoning a fistful of Ofuda in preparation for combat.

It was very lucky for the pair that the lake was a relatively small place, which was why it was so popular among children for playing, and allowed the older girls to quickly find the Youkai.

Sadly, they also found Cirno, and her friends.

From a quick look, it seemed that Mystia and Wriggle, if Reimu remembered their names right, were knocked unconscious, and were bleeding from the forehead slowly, though their wounds were most likely not life-threatening. Otherwise they had a few scrapes and bruises.

Laying out not far from the water was Rumia, also out cold, but she didn't seem to have a scratch on her, which left Reimu confused, but she brushed it off as she heard a cry from nearby.

There was Cirno, and her luck be damned, she was currently pinned under what looked like a vampire-like Youkai, with large bat wings that were spread wide, as he bared his fangs at her.

"Get the hell away from her, monster!" Reimu cried with bravery she wasn't expecting, catching the attention of the beast. Charging in at the beast, the much smaller girl body checked the vampire, knocking him away from her friend. Youmu was quickly at her side, sword drawn, and ready for action.

"We must talk about your need to rush into situations, Reimu-Sempai," The younger girl quipped, but was ignored as Reimu growled at the monster, "Later Youmu-Chan, right now let's just do some extermination." The younger girl agreed wholeheartedly.

For some reason the Youkai seemed to find amusement in this, as he spread his arms wide and began laughing, "You two believe that you can kill me? I am a pure-bred vampire, my strength is a thousand times beyond your pitiful abilities."

"You speak a tough game Vampire-san, but let us see you back up these empty claims," Youmu challenged, before disappearing in a burst of cherry blossom petals. This was all the encouragement Reimu needed to once again charge, tossing her handful of Ofuda at the Youkai as an opening attack.

She was incensed as the paper talisman were casually dodged, but smirked as she turned the failed attack into a feint, gesturing with a hand to launch one of her Yin-Yang orbs at the creature, which hit him head on and caused him to stagger backwards, though he quickly regained his footing.

This momentary distraction seemed to be all the time needed though, as Youmu appeared behind the vampire, and buried her sword through his torso, hopefully for a killing blow on the beast.

Both girls cursed as the monster simply laughed off the attack, and disintegrated into hundreds of bats. Youmu closed the distance between the two, and the girls moved up back to back.

"So Youmu-Chan, know anything about how to kill a vampire Youkai?" Reimu joked, hoping for a positive answer.

"No, unfortunately Vampires are in fact considered a higher ranking Youkai than what we faced yesterday, and are surprisingly rare, so few Tenshi know how to properly dispose of them," Youmu explained.

"Well Shi-" Reimu's curse was interrupted by a fist impacting with her face, which sent her flying away from the shorter girl, and nearly into the lake, if she hadn't been able to catch herself in midair. After shaking the cobwebs from her head, Reimu took stock of the fight.

Youmu seemed to be holding her own against the vampire, at least, though every place her sword connected appeared to come away without any visible mark or sign of injury. Therefore, as much as Youmu was striking the beast, none of her attacks were actually doing anything to slow down or stop him.

"Damnit, this isn't working...we need a new plan," Reimu growled.

"Idiot, use your holy relics," A new voice called out from nearby, making Reimu snap her head around.

Standing by the lake, with her arms behind her back, was a blonde haired woman, wearing a purple dress and white undershirt, that had what Reimu could only call the strangest hat she had ever seen in her life.

"He's an Undead Youkai, your Holy powers are his kryptonite, use your brain you stupid Tenshi," The girl said with a teasing smile, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Blinking twice and wondering what the hell she had just seen, Reimu did realize that what the woman had told her was right, if he was Undead, then items charged with holy power should be able to properly dispose of him.

"Youmu-Chan, regroup!" Reimu called, and was pleased at how quickly the younger girl complied, jumping back to her side and trying to catch her breath, "He is more annoying than I expected."

"Don't worry, I think that I might have a plan to bring him to justice," Reimu replied, "But I need you to trust me, and hold out your sword for me a moment."

Unsure of where the shrine maiden was going with this, but knowing she could trust the girl, Youmu held out her hand, still keeping a firm grip on her weapon, while her other hand went to the hilt of her short sword still at her waist.

Resting her hand over the younger girl's, Reimu closed her eyes and began to focus, calling up locked away information in her mind, and smiled as suddenly something new opened inside, and she felt her powers beginning to leak out of her fingers, into the younger girls, whose own hand began to feel warm beneath hers.

Youmu also felt the power shift, and looked up at her senior in surprise, "Combining powers? this is an advanced technique."

finally cutting off the power transfer, and opening her eyes, Reimu sighed as she tried to regain balance over herself, and smiled down at her junior, "There, now let's take this vampire out."

"Hai!" Youmu answered, and moved to re-engage, with Reimu hot on her heels, a new set of Ofuda gripped between her fingers.

Sensing something different, the vampire prepared to defend himself against the two Tenshi, but howled in agony when he tried to parry the smaller girl's first sword swing.

Retreating back, the Vampire hissed at the two, "Holy weapons, how dare you!"

"How dare you try to feed off of innocent children," Reimu shot back emotionlessly, throwing the Ofuda at the creature, but was unfortunately dodged. This did little to stop the pair, as Youmu took the chance to again close the distance with the vampire, and began to lay into him with sword swipes, finally beginning to wear him down as the Holy-infused sword connected.

Reimu kept back to provide support as best she could, tossing countless Ofuda at the creature of darkness, sometimes connecting and causing him to stumble, other times forcing him to dodge, leaving him open to Youmu's attacks, but finally the beast disappeared into a flurry of bats once more and reappeared across the clearing.

"Fine, I can see that this meal is too much effort, I will bid you girls a good night," the vampire stated courteously, but Reimu wasn't about to let him escape after threatening her friend.

"Like. Hell!" The shrine maiden growled, and suddenly four Yin-Yang orbs were circling the vampire.

"W-what the?" was all the vampire managed to say, before the orbs detonated in a bright flash, engulfing the creature in holy light with a loud scream.

Reimu sunk to her knees after the draining attack, and tried to catch her breath, not looking up to inspect her work. She noted absently as Youmu came to stand beside her, and put a comforting hand upon her shoulder.

"That was very quick thinking Reimu-Sempai," The younger girl complimented, and got a small nod from her senior, who managed to at least give Youmu a thumbs up. Youmu returned the gesture with some amusement.

"How are the girls looking?" Reimu asked through her panting, reminding Youmu that they were even there in the first place, and causing her to disappear in a burst of cherry blossoms once more.

Taking the chance, Reimu fell onto her back, and stared up at the sky as the smell of spring wafted through the clearing, and she listened to Youmu go about the inspection.

Finally the younger girl reappeared standing above her, and gave her another thumbs-up, "besides some bruising and scratches, it doesn't seem like any of them are in serious danger, and we can probably leave them here to get home by themselves."

"I don't think I can do that in good conscience," Reimu admitted, "How about we escort the lot of them home, then regroup back at my place?" The girl offered as an ultimatum, and was pleased with the nod of consent she received.

"I suppose it would be irresponsible of us to leave a bunch of children who had just been attacked to fend for themselves," Youmu said sheepishly, before she was engulfed in a white light that left her in her school uniform. Reimu was quick to do the same, holding up her card, which after the transformation was once again decorated with the familiar Yin-Yang orb design.

Youmu helped the older girl back to her feet just as the children were beginning to regain consciousness, and the two went around to check on them.

Offering a cover story that they had heard screaming and come running, The two girls split up in order to cover as much ground as possible, Youmu taking both Mystia and Wriggle, while Reimu got Cirno and Rumia.

Despite a small mishap where Rumia couldn't even remember where she lived (which Reimu was thankful got cleared up quickly by Cirno helping out), the two girls walked back to Reimu's place, where she had a strong feeling she would find the older sister waiting up for the two.

"So I'm thinking the next time you guys want to go to the lake, you ask either me, your big sister, or Marisa to go with you, to prevent whatever attacked you guys from trying that again," Reimu suggested, and received a small nod from the blue-haired girl, which Reimu found unnerving. it was not very often that Cirno was at a loss for words.

The older girl was further surprised when she found Youmu standing outside of her house, checking out her phone while she waited for the two. The minute she spotted the pair though, Youmu slipped the phone back into her bag, and offered the girls a wave.

"Glad to see that you didn't have any trouble getting those two home," Reimu commented, receiving a nervous laugh.

"They were going on about some monster that jumped them, but it sounded like they had just been playing a very realistic game, and got injured when they fell over," The silver haired girl explained, making Reimu groan in her head 'As if we need anyone else suspecting anything, let alone a bunch of kids.'

"Anyways, shall we go inside and see if the freeloaders are here?" Reimu asked, and Youmu voiced her consent. The two would have walked inside, if Cirno hadn't spoken up.

"So how did you two manage to beat off that Vampire? I passed out just after you arrived."

And both girls froze.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 5 - complete**

**For those of you who might be concerned, the combat will be getting longer and more complicated in future chapters, right now I'm more focused on driving the plot.**

**Stay tuned for chapter 6**


	6. Chapter 6

The two girls looked at each other nervously, trying to think up an excuse while the younger girl stared up at the pair with her big blue eyes.

"Er,, Y'see Cirno-Chan..." Youmu began, but Reimu quickly laid her hand on the silver-haired girl's shoulder.

"Cirno-Chan, obviously what you saw was a delusion, because of what happened to you guys," The older girl quickly came up with, "You hit your head when you fell over, so you were imagining things."

"But I'm sure that I saw it!" Cirno argued, but the two girls just gave her a look, and hurried inside, forcing the girl to follow them.

True to her expectations, They found Marisa and Letty sitting at her table, and, to Reimu's chagrin, were drinking her tea, "Damnit you two, stop using all of my groceries!"

"It's never been a problem before," Marisa commented, before smirking at her friend and taking another sip. Letty remained quiet on the other hand, until she spotted her little sister, "Hey Cirno-Imouto, how was the lake?"

"Onee-Chan, Reimu-Sempai and Youmu-Sempai saved us from a big monster!" The younger girl announced, making the Tenshi choke. Reimu was quick to try and save face.

"That is, Youmu-Chan heard something, and texted me to come over, and we found the girls playing rough with each other, and decided to join in for a little while," The shrine maiden offered, "Rumia-Chan played the part of an evil Youkai and we had to "defeat" her."

"That's not what.." Cirno began to argue, but Reimu quieted her down as she crossed the room and collected something from on top of her fridge. "Here Cirno-Chan, for being such a good girl."

"Yay Cookies!" The young girl cheered, taking the jar and sitting down next to her sister, who told her to only have a couple.

"So you ran off without telling us anything because Youmu-San messaged you?" Marisa asked, and Reimu noticed how hurt the girl sounded, which made her own heart hurt slightly.

"It sounded important, and Youmu-Chan was worried about whoever was screaming, so of course she did the logical thing and called in her Sempai, there's nothing wrong about that Marisa-Chan," Letty covered, and Marisa huffed childishly.

"Still didn't mean that she had to run off on us without saying anything," Marisa complained, but considering Letty began to laugh at the girl's comment, Reimu was sure there was no heat behind it.

"If you'll give us a moment, I need to talk to Youmu-Chan about something real quick, and we'll be right back," Reimu stated, and the two girls nodded, so Reimu grabbed onto her junior's hand and pulled her back outside, "Think we should contact Yukari-sama about team (9) seemingly knowing about us?"

"It would probably be wise to inform her, and ask her about what to do with the girls," Youmu admitted, "We can't just have them telling everyone what they saw, if someone believed them then we would have a lot of trouble in the future."

"Okay, I'll go back in and monitor Cirno-Bozu for now, while you handle Yukari-sama?" Reimu offered and received a small nod from her partner, "Thank you, I still feel uncomfortable speaking with Yukari-Sama, now that I know her position."

"It's no trouble Reimu-Sempai, I've known Yukari-sama for a very long time, so it's kind of worn off for me."

With a nod of understanding Reimu returned inside, and found both girls staring at her rather intently, while Cirno continued to eat cookies, "Err, Hello?"

"Reimu-Chan, be honest with us," Letty started, but was unfortunately cut off by Marisa.

"You ain't in love with Youmu, are ya?" The blonde haired girl shot in the dark, causing Reimu to choke in surprise and begin coughing.

once her impromptu coughing fit had died down some, the Brunette managed to cough out her denial, "W-where the hell is that c-coming from? Youmu-Chan and I are just m-mutual friends."

"Friends with benefits maybe," Marisa muttered, "After she saved your life, you've been doing a lot to try and "make it up to her," She reasoned.

"You're saying that just because I've been trying to become friends with Youmu-Chan after she saved my life, Marisa, that you think we're something more?" Reimu couldn't believe that she was hearing this from one of her oldest friends.

"We don't mean it like that Reimu-Chan, it just seems sort of odd that you and Youmu-Chan appear so," "Buddy-buddy," "Marisa-Chan, please just shut up for a moment. That you two spending so much time together after school is rather odd when before this you two didn't even acknowledge each other's existence."

"Once again I would like to point out that girl saved my life Letty-Sempai, and besides that, when have I ever shown interest in **anyone** before?" Reimu argued, causing both girls to fall silent.

"Well...she does have a point, Reimu-Chan hasn't ever been in a relationship before, and has never shown signs of getting into one," Letty supplied, which Reimu noted with some amusement made Marisa pout.

"Fine, fine, we're sorry for accusing you of having a fling with Youmu, now c'mon you half-rate shrine maiden, come and drink your tea," Marisa teased, causing Reimu's face to heat up.

"Half-rate? what about you, Black-White Thief?" Reimu shot back, but did as she was told and took a seat across from Letty.

"Hey, like I tell everyone, they can have their things back when I die!" Marisa announced proudly, causing Reimu to blanche.

"Well the way you're going, you're going to end up dead by age 25, if you keep stealing things from everyone," Reimu warned, and the pair continued to argue.

Letty listened intently to the fight, up until Youmu returned to the room, and then her eyes followed the swordswoman as she took a seat between Reimu and Cirno, looking uncomfortable in the atmosphere that surrounded the table.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"Thank you for letting me stay the night Reimu-Sempai," Youmu said as she set down her Kendo sword beside the futon her partner had laid out for her.

"It's no trouble Youmu-Chan," The older girl replied, "Considering what we faced today, and how far away you live, I wouldn't want to put you in unnecessary danger by having you run all the way home."

Youmu looked sheepish as she scratched her red cheek, "Well, I suppose I could make it, considering my stamina, but I appreciate you putting me up for the night regardless, as well as the clothes you lent me."

Reimu smiled down at her Kohai, and sat down cross-legged across from the girl, "Okay so Youmu-Chan, what did Yukari-Sama suggest regarding team (9)?"

Realizing it was time to talk business, Youmu quickly became the stoic girl Reimu had seen facing off with that Vampire Youkai earlier, "Yukari-Sama suggests ignorance, and honestly believes that as long as we can keep up a cover story with Letty-Sempai and Marisa-Sempai, that our cover won't be blown."

"Well, okay yeah I can see where she's going with that," Reimu admitted, "Out of the lot, Only Cirno-Chan really knows us, and was the only one that saw us transformed, so as long as we can keep Marisa and Letty from believing her, it should simply disappear over time."

"Though, it was the strangest thing," Youmu began, "What was?" "When I mentioned the other girls by name, it seemed as though Yukari-Sama froze up at the mention of Rumia."

"How odd," Reimu thought, "Out of the lot of them, Rumia is probably the most harmless. She's the most innocent of the group, and really always says what's on her mind. Her grades aren't half bad, or so I've heard from Cirno-Chan, but to be honest, she's always struck me as a bit of an airhead."

"Well I am sure that Yukari-Sama's reaction has some merit to it, just that we do not have all of the information that she does, and should thus simply forget about the matter," Youmu suggested, and Reimu nodded her assent. "With that said, Good night Reimu-Sempai."

"Good night Youmu-Chan," Reimu echoed, and reached over to shut out the lights in her room, bathing the pair in darkness.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

The next day had passed relatively quickly for Reimu, but she found her mind was still stuck on the topic of Rumia, who she had noticed was missing that morning from Cirno's group, and all attempts to brush it off were proven fruitless.

As Lunch rolled around, Reimu bid her two friends farewell, and admitted there was something that she needed to look up for an assignment in one of her classes, which meant a visit to the school library.

stepping through the large double-doors, Reimu took a deep breath of the smell of paper, and wondered to herself why exactly she hardly ever came in here.

The matter was quickly answered as she noticed almost everyone in the room staring at her unnervingly, forcing her to put her head down and shuffle into hiding deeper in the library, behind the shelves. The book-lovers rarely accepted anyone outside of their pack, and treated everyone that entered the library as an outsider.

"Ah Reimu-San, what a surprise to see you in here," An airy voice stated, causing Reimu to turn and find Patchoulli Knowledge approaching.

"I see you aren't part of that pack mentality the others follow, Patchoulli-San," Reimu said with relief, causing the purple-haired girl to laugh.

"Yes, they can be rather abrasive at times, but as long as you do not let them smell your fear, then you should survive small trips into our realm," The girl supplied knowledgably, this time making Reimu laugh, "So just what brings you in here today?"

"Oh, I was coming in here to," Reimu slipped off as she realized she wasn't actually sure what had brought her to the library, but suddenly an idea popped into her head, "Do you know of any books about Gensokyo's urban legends?"

"A book of Fantasies and tall tales?" Patchy asked curiously, "Sounds like something more along Marisa-San's lines than yours Reimu-San, but I will see what I can do for you today."

"Thank you very much Patchoulli-San," Reimu said with a small bow, and followed the other girl as they weaved between shelves full of books that would make the shrine maiden's head spin.

Finally they stopped before a shelf occupied with only a handful of books, and Patchoulli quickly picked out a rather thick book, which she held out to the brunette girl, "Here you are Reimu-San, a full compendium of Gensokyo's Urban Legends, written by Hieda No Akyuu herself, said to be one of the oldest residents of Gensokyo."

"Thank you so much for this Patchoulli-San, I'm sure that this will help a lot in my research," The younger girl said, offering her Sempai a smile, Patchy seemed unmoving, and simply gave the girl a look.

"I should warn you that what you are looking for might find you first Reimu-San, and that it might not be What you are expecting, or something you are ready to face," The woman offered sagely, making Reimu pause mid-step.

"What do you mean Patchoulli-San?" Reimu asked, turning to regard the woman, but found the older girl gone without a trace, almost like she had not been there at all to begin with.

"How odd," Reimu muttered, before quickly going to check out her new reading material, and ignoring the needling feeling of someone watching her until she left the library.

Making her way up to the roof, Reimu was thankful to find the door was unlocked, and let herself upstairs, though she wasn't expecting to find a silver-haired girl standing near the edge, overlooking the courtyard where the rest of the students wandered about, lost in their own little world.

"Ah Youmu-Chan, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your solitude," Reimu hurriedly apologized, beginning to back out to the door, but was stopped by the smaller girl, "No Reimu-Sempai, you aren't interrupting anything, I just needed to get away from the rest of the school for a little while. It's still a free roof, and I wouldn't mind the company."

"W-well if you are sure," Reimu muttered nervously, and stepped out fully onto the roof, squeaking a moment as the wind caught her hair and began to blow it about, but thankfully it quickly calmed down, allowing the brunette to walk up beside her partner, "So you like to spend time alone up on the roof?"

"Sometimes I feel like the world is crashing down on me, and I need to get up somewhere high to put things back into perspective," Youmu admitted, still looking over the edge, "Everyone else seems small and insignificant below us."

"Yes, but sometimes you need to be immersed in that sea, so you don't lose yourself in the clouds, Youmu-Chan," Reimu argued, which surprisingly made the silver-haired girl laugh.

"True enough Reimu-Chan. So what brings you up here?" The younger girl asked curiously, eyeing the book under the girl's arm.

"Oh, I just wanted to find somewhere quiet to read this book about Gensokyo's urban legends," Reimu explained, receiving a nod from her Kohai.

"You would be surprised Reimu-Chan, to find that not all stories in that book are just that, and that some might actually be more real than you think," Youmu suggested, making Reimu blink at the girl.

"What do you mean Youmu-Chan?" Reimu asked, and handed over the book when Youmu gestured for her to pass it. She watched in surprise as the girl cracked the book open, and began to expertly flip the pages, until she stopped on one exact page.

"The Angel of death," Youmu narrated. "It is said many years ago, before Gensokyo was founded, there was a small cherry blossom field just on the outskirts of what would later become this city, known as Hakugyokurou, where a lustrous mansion stood."

Within that mansion lived a sickly girl, whose father had passed away fairly young due to unknown causes, that took care of the cherry blossoms all by herself, and some believed it was the only reason she was alive. She loved the cherry blossoms, and treated them all with care, watering them and feeding them.

One day, a travelling merchant appeared at the doors of the mansion, claiming that he had been called here by a powerful force beckoning him. The sickly girl did not know what to make of the merchant, but allowed him to stay the night in exchange for some of his wares. The merchant went missing by the next morning, and the girl brushed off his disappearance as him moving on, though all of his supplies and wares remained where they had been left the previous night.

A few days later, a group of lumberjack appeared at her door, saying they were scouting out new locations to collect materials for a small town they were working on nearby, the place that would later be called Gensokyo. The girl adamantly refused to allow them to cut down her Cherry blossoms, and drove the men from her property. The men never returned to the lumber camp they had come from, and some say they had attempted to try and sneak onto the girl's property in order to cut down the trees, but were killed by her.

Slowly, more and more people came to the girl's door, for varying reasons. Some were equally sickly, and said that they only needed to rest here a night before moving on in their journey. Some claimed they had come to seek the girl's hand in marriage, but had more impure intentions in mind. Some claimed to be simple researchers, wanting to study the beautiful cherry blossoms that the girl had cultivated. All of them never remained for more than one night, and in the morning all of their things would still be laying where they were left, or no word would come back from the places they made the journey from.

Finally the sickly girl reached the end of her days, and the girl, now a beautiful young woman, went out to her backyard, where a single, grand cherry blossom tree stood, towering over the mansion and shading the area in it's leafy boughs. The girl felt the tree calling out to her, and laid down beneath it's branches one final time, before passing on.

This was when the woman realized what had been calling all of these people to her mansion, and why they had all disappeared. For as the girl's spirit drifted away from her body, she could at last see the dark, evil, corrupted aura surrounding the grand tree, and all of the skeletons that fed it's roots, like a giant graveyard. And the woman wept for their lost lives.

For you see, as the tree was cared for it gained sentience, and as it was loved it grew more powerful. Eventually the tree became a powerful Youkai, and began to emit it's siren song, screaming out for blood in all directions, being passed from tree to tree for miles, and bringing in hundreds of worthy sacrifices. and the girl wept.

Finally another Youkai caught the attention of the Great evil tree, and came to investigate. The Great Sukima Youkai appeared before the woman's spirit, shackles to the tree for all eternity much like it's thousands of previous victims, and spoke to the woman.

"Why do you cry young one?" The Gap Youkai asked, halting the woman's tears. "My tree, the great tree which I cultivated and cared for over many years, has become a monster, which drinks the blood of innocent men and women to become more powerful."

The Gap Youkai took in the woman's words, and looked up at the great tree, which had only grown larger as it continued to feed, and finally came up with a solution. "Young lady, do you wish to free all of these spirits shackled to the tree, including your own?"

The woman was surprised by this offer, but quickly accepted, wanting to be able to be free and move on into the afterlife. Unfortunately, the Gap Youkai's plan would not allow that.

"I will use your earthly body as a vessel to bind this great tree, to silence it's song forever, but at the same time, your spirit, and those spirits who have already been sacrificed to the tree will not be able to move on, and instead be forced to walk the human world, an eternity as a warden of countless souls, and the only thing stopping this great tree from devouring the entire world."

The woman wept once more, as she realized what the Gap Youkai was offering her, but finally agreed to the plan. Her earthly body, with the help of the Gap Youkai's knowledge, was used to seal away the evil trees power into a vessel, and that vessel became the ghostly woman, who could once again walk the world, but could never move on into the afterlife.

This agreement was not without gifts in the woman's favour, though it could be argued if they were favourable. For you see, all of the evil trees powers were sealed into the womanly vessel, allowing her access to these same abilities.

Because it was only her spirit given tangible form, the woman was much like a ghost, able to phase through anything, and a cold aura constantly surrounded her. The woman received the ability to call anyone to their death, a power from the great trees own abilities, though one the woman was said to largely shun, as she did not want to take any more victims upon her conscience.

"And thus the woman was left in Hakugyokurou, with the hundreds of souls of other beings who had all been victims of the demon tree, able to watch the human race advance, but unable to be a part of their world," Youmu finished the story, and noticed how quiet Reimu was.

"T-that's," Reimu stuttered out, "That is a real story?"

"That is the story of my mistress, the woman that you met several days ago," Youmu revealed, "That is the story of Yuyuko Saigyouji, the Angel of Death."

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 6 complete**

**Stay tuned for Chapter 7**


	7. Chapter 7

**Exposition chapter!**

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"Your mistress?" Reimu asked curiously, "Then what does that make you, Youmu-Chan?" The Shrine maiden asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.

"I am simply a normal young girl, or rather, I used to be," Youmu admitted. "But my powers are a very long story."

"Please tell me," Reimu urgently begged, "I want to know it all, please."

Youmu sighed, but nodded her head, "I will tell you, but not until tonight," The girl revealed.

"H-hey, why not until tonight?" Reimu complained, but the answer came as the bell rang.

"Because fifth period is beginning, and we do not want to be late, do we Reimu-Sempai?" Youmu teased, sticking her tongue out at her partner childishly. Reimu pouted at the girl's playfulness, but followed her down the stairs.

The rest of the day thankfully didn't add much stress to Reimu's already overloaded mind, and she hurried back to her house, finding Youmu standing outside. Fighting with her door, which sometimes had a mind of it's own, the two entered the quiet house, and Reimu went off to prepare Tea for the two.

Once the pair were seated comfortably, with the book of urban legends laying between the pair, Reimu finally broke the silence, "So Youmu-Chan are you going to tell me about your history?"

"Yes, but I'm not all that sure where to begin," Youmu stated, and was quickly disarmed by the small smile the shrine maiden was offering her, "From the beginning, silly."

"W-well okay then," Youmu blushed, "I believe it began back in the day, when Yuyuko-Sama was still alive."

Back before the great demon tree was sealed away by the Gap Youkai, an old samurai appeared at the doors of Hakugyokurou, claiming that he was hunting a powerful demon that he could sense nearby. Yuyuko-Sama was quick to give him shelter for the night, since demon hunting was a very respectful profession back then.

The problem was that the man did not realize the demon tree was his quarry, and he fell under it's siren song, like it's many previous victims, and was killed during the night, while Yuyuko-Sama slept.

So the Samurai's spirit remained, bound to the tree it had been hunting, until the day the Gap Youkai released all of the spirits, and gave them the ability to walk the earth once more. But the aged Samurai did not know what to live for any longer, now that he had been bested by, and rescued by a Youkai.

The man wandered the earth for many years, constantly fighting against the insistent tugging of his connection to Yuyuko-Sama, but not wanting to return until he had found his purpose.

Finally the man found something, or rather, someone. A princess, who had been slaughtered by bandits, whose spirit had been unable to ascend to the heavens, as her family did not know she had perished.

The man told her that he would protect her, and the two walked the earth together. The samurai kept his word until his final days, when the strength of Yuyuko-Sama's bond threatened to tear his existence apart if he did not return.

Refusing to return to solitude, and leave behind the princess, who he had grown to care for, The samurai took the worse way out, and allowed his existence to end, but he had left a legacy behind.

For you see, the two had somehow found a way, and borne a child together, and the child, though a spirit, was able to be touched by both spirit and human, an abomination that the world had never heard of before. The Samurai pleaded to his wife to return to the place he had abandoned, and take their child with her, back to Hakugyokurou.

When Yuyuko-Sama found the spirit of a princess kneeling at her doorway, with a child in hand, she was unsure of what to do. This woman was not one of the many souls bound to her, but she could feel the faint memory of the samurai's spirit in his child. She finally made up her mind, and allowed the pair to remain, in service to her.

The princess did not mind becoming a servant, as it meant no longer wandering, which had grown boring. She and the samurai had already explored the world, and there was no longer anything in Japan to keep their interest. The child though, the child yearned for adventure, being raised on stories of her father, who had in life stopped countless demons, and in death defeated even more.

Finally, when the child came of age, she begged Yuyuko-Sama to be released from her service for a time, to be allowed to go out and live her life, and travel the world, much like her father had. Yuyuko-Sama was at first against the idea, but did finally agree to the girl's pleas, and gave her a year and a day to go out, but warned her that if she did not return on the last day, she would no longer be welcome in Hakugyokurou. The agreement made, the girl, now a young Samurai herself, set out after bidding her mother goodbye.

At first the girl hunted demons, honing her abilities further and making a name for herself, as the rest of the world slowly began to lose belief in the creatures of old. But she was unaware of this, and continued to do something that she enjoyed.

The young woman met a samurai on the road, and recklessly challenged him to a fight. The younger samurai lost the battle, and the mature samurai chastised her for her recklessness. She immediately begged him to teach her, and he refused, before moving on, but the girl was determined.

For two months the girl followed the samurai, untiringly begging him to teach her, and he constantly refused all of her requests. He did not want a disciple, he did not have time for a student, were always his claims, but she would not give up. Finally he agreed, claiming if it would simply shut her up.

But when he began to train her, he realized what he had found, a student so willing to learn and so determined to succeed, that within only three months she had learned everything he had spent his entire life learning. From there love was a given.

The two fell in love and were wed merely a week before the young girl's agreement with Yuyuko-Sama dissolved, but the girl had all but forgotten about her agreement. The pair continued to travel for a time, until the young woman had borne a child, and only then the two began to seek out a place to settle. Hakugyokurou was the girl's first choice.

Unfortunately, on their way to the mansion, a Youkai attacked, and the two, who had allowed their skills to falter over time, were easily overwhelmed by the beast, who first killed the woman, leaving the grieving husband and child the time to escape.

Vowing revenge, the man continued to Hakugyokurou, and begged for Yuyuko-Sama to allow him to stay. She immediately refused, remembering her agreement with the woman who had so casually broken her word, and the man instead was forced to camp outside the mansion, beneath a cherry blossom tree.

Unfortunately the Youkai had been following the man's trail, and it lead it right to Hakugyokurou, and Yuyuko-Sama, who was still susceptible to Youkai attacks. her scream during the night awoke the samurai, who hurried into the building, ignoring Yuyuko-Sama's previous refusal.

Finding the Youkai poised over the woman, ready to kill her, brought back the memory of his wife, who this beast had also killed, and he cut down the Youkai in righteous fury, finally gaining vengeance for his wife's death. Yuyuko-Sama was eternally grateful, and allowed the pair to stay, even offering the samurai a job as her bodyguard.

As for the Young girl. As his wife never explained to him her half-human form before her death, he was unaware that his own daughter was a half-ghost, and her own abilities remained hidden away for many years. She was hired by Yuyuko-sama to become the gardener, taking care of all of the cherry blossom trees that had once been cared for by the ghostly woman before her, and was trained in the art of the sword by her father, until his eventual death, as his age caught up with him.

"Once he passed on, the job of protecting Yuyuko-Sama fell to myself, and I spent the next several years watching over the woman, until my own powers manifested fully," Youmu finished off.

"So you're a half-ghost?" Reimu asked, receiving a small nod from the younger girl, "Wow, that is kind of cool to be honest. So is that what your little creampuff thing is when you release your powers?"

"Hai, it is my ghost-half, which I have found I can control as a second set of eyes, or a second set of weapons in combat situations, but it took many years for me to properly learn the ability," Youmu explained.

"So Your heightened ability when your powers are released is because your family is a long line of Samurai?" The shrine maiden quizzed off, receiving another nod, "That is so cool Youmu-Chan!"

"So what about yourself Reimu-Sempai? I do not hear you speak of your family, and you appear to live all alone here," Youmu asked, but quickly regretted it as Reimu's face fell, "I-I'm sorry if that is a touchy subject, You don't have to answer."

"Both of my parents died in a flood, saving my life when I was very young," Reimu explained bluntly, causing Youmu to gasp in surprise, "After their bodies were found, and we were able to scrape together what we could I was brought here to live with my great grandfather, who took care of me and forced me to keep in shape by going out on runs together through the area."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Youmu admitted, but winced as Reimu's face fell a second time, "He passed away when I was ten."

"I am very sorry Reimu-Sempai," Youmu offered, reaching out to take the older girl's hand, and she was relieved when Reimu offered her a small smile in return.

"It's okay Youmu-Chan, I've had plenty of time to get over it. I don't even really remember my parents all that well, and my Grandfather broke it to me that he was old very early on, so I didn't cry when he passed away," Reimu stated.

"So what about Marisa-Sempai, Letty-Sempai, and Cirno-Chan?" Youmu asked curiously.

"Oh, I met Marisa-Chan my second week here, when Grandfather enrolled me in school, and she was the only one willing to talk to the weird new girl. Boy, I think they should have given Marisa-Chan that nickname once she started acting out," Reimu chuckled.

"I didn't meet Letty-Sempai and Cirno-Chan until middle school, When we saw her breaking up a fight between team (9) and another group of girls, and Marisa-Chan announced a bit too loudly how "hot" Letty-Chan was, Though I don't think even that idiot knew what that word really meant back then," Reimu grumbled.

"And how did Letty-Sempai take the comment?" Youmu asked.

"Oh she didn't seem the least bit bothered by it, in fact, if I remember right, she flirted with Marisa-Chan for a little bit, made her face go bright red and forced me to drag her away," The shrine maiden replied, "I don't know what happened, because the next day Letty-Chan came up to us acting like we had always been friends, and resumed teasing Marisa-Chan mercilessly, before rounding on me."

"So that's just been how it is between you four since then?"

"Pretty much," Reimu offered, "I mean, sometimes Marisa-Chan does something monumentally stupid, and we have to bail her out, or Cirno-Chan does something really stupid, and we have to back her up, but I guess you can't pick your friends," she finished with a shrug.

"I get the feeling that they don't like me," Youmu admitted, but was stopped as Reimu laid her hand over the other girl's.

"Don't worry, Marisa-Chan just doesn't know how to trust people after something that happened when she was younger, and Letty-Sempai is like that towards everyone, please don't take it too harshly," Reimu pleaded, but the way Youmu began to laugh made her heart lighten.

"I would not mind spending more time with you and your friends Reimu-Sempai, they are interesting, and considering how little human interaction I got to have before being enrolled in school by Yuyuko-Sama, it is a welcome change."

"When were you allowed to attend school?" Reimu grew curious.

"Not until last year, when she and Yukari-Sama pulled some strings and had me take the entrance exam," Youmu explained.

"And you're already the captain of the Kendo team? That's pretty amazing," The shrine maiden commented, "Did Yukari-Sama and Yuyuko-Sama have anything to do with that?"

N-No," Youmu quickly denied, "Well okay, they did help me get me onto the team, since they are rather lax about members joining, but I made captain because I worked very hard last year," The girl was surprised to find Reimu laughing.

"Sorry, I was just joking Youmu, I'm sure you became the captain because of your skills, but enough about you, is there anything else you wish to ask me?"

"Well, this may be a bit personal," Youmu admitted, but was egged on by Reimu giving her the gesture to go ahead, "Why do you work on the school shrine?"

"Oh that," Reimu groaned, "I started out working on the shrine because the school board pulled a fast one on me, since I didn't have quite enough money to pay for all of my tuition."

"But, this house, you have to have some money?" Youmu asked, but was surprised as Reimu shook her head.

"This house was paid off by my grandfather a long time ago, and besides the basic costs for hydro and electricity, which are paid by my grandfather's pension, I don't have anything really for pleasure around here."

The P word seemed to make Youmu's face light up, but Reimu quickly explained, "I mean, I don't have a TV or a Laptop or anything, heck even my phone is a landline," The shrine maiden grumbled.

"So how do you pay for food then?"

"Mostly through my friends help, and the pay checks I get from work," Reimu stated, "I haven't been getting many shifts lately, so I've been relying on Letty-Sempai bringing things over, and Marisa-Chan making lunches for me."

"They are good friends," The younger girl admitted, and Reimu nodded in agreement.

Both girls would have likely continued to talk, had their phones not gone off simultaneously.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 7 complete**

**Updates will resume Monday, and will be slowing down to a Mon-Wed-Fri release schedule, barring any complications or delays, due to the author's fears of a burnout by continuing this intense sun-sat schedule.**

**Thank you for your understanding. Ja Ne!**

**Stay tuned for Chapter 8**


	8. Chapter 8

**Welcome to the first sub-arc of Gensokyo Tenshi.**

**A Shadow over Gensokyo part 1**

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

The Tenshi pulled out their phones immediately, and were surprised to find their mail already waiting open on the screens, which was flashing red and black with words.

**Strange darkness has appeared in the slums. Dangerous Youkai detected. Investigate immediately. Do Not Engage.**

**-Ran**

"A DNE?" Youmu hummed, "It isn't very often that a fresh team like ours is told to investigate something like this, it must be quite important," The girl explained.

Reimu was slightly confused, "But, if there are other, more powerful Tenshi in the area, why are we being told to investigate this?" The Shrine maiden was quick to ask.

"It's hard to say for sure," Youmu admitted, "But Yukari-Sama must have a reason for choosing us specifically, so we had better head out now."

"Hai!" Reimu echoed, and both girls were quick to transform and depart, hurrying across the rooftops towards the slums.

Many years ago, an earthquake devastated the city, and claimed many lives. It was only thanks to several wealthy investors that the city managed to recover, and rebuild, but some parts of the city had to be ignored for more important areas, thus leading to the creation of the slums, where the crumbling remains of the old city stood, and most of the homeless lived. It was an understandably dreary place.

The two made very good progress to the slums, and caught sight of their target quickly, what looked to be a large dome of pure shadows, which obstructed their view into the slums, and even blotted out the moon.

"This darkness is incredibly unnatural, it has to be a Youkai," Reimu muttered, and Youmu nodded her agreement, "What do you think we should do?"

"Just as we were told to Reimu-Sempai, investigate," The silver-haired girl replied, and made a jump for the dome of black. She was surprised that on contact she felt an incredible force collide with her, sending the girl flying backwards. Reimu was quick to react, and jumped to catch the girl, the older girl landing hard on her bottom with a quiet groan.

"Strange...that dome appears to be more like a shield," Youmu noted, "Even though it looks like simple darkness."

"That's great Youmu-Chan, but could you please get off of me?" Reimu grumbled, and the younger girl squeaked as she remembered who she was half-sitting on, her cheeks going bright red in embarrassment.

"Sorry Reimu-Sempai!" The girl bowed low to her partner, her long hair falling over her shoulder, and Reimu noted with some amusement that her companion spirit mimicked it's master.

Reimu patter her Kouhai's head in what she hoped was a placating gesture, and quickly eased her worries, "Relax Youmu-Chan, I'm more worried about how you are, and about breaking this darkness."

"Yes, this is troubling to say the least," Youmu said, turning to once more regard the dome of shadows, which they now noticed was gently pulsing with purple waves of energy, adding to it's appearance as a shield, "something does not want us to investigate."

"Wait a second, I think that I can see something moving inside," Reimu suddenly announced, and Youmu strained her eyes to try and see through the darkness. Both girls were startled when a small figure cloaked in shadows came barrelling out of the darkness, flying straight between the two, and disappearing once more into the night.

This also seemed to trigger the dome of shadows to begin dissipating, and slowly the darkness returning to a natural night around them, as the moon shone down from above.

"That was...odd," Reimu blinked, before turning to her partner, "Do you think that was the Youkai that made that dome?"

"Most likely," Youmu replied, "But it moved so quickly I did not even get the chance to see what it looked like, did you have any more luck Reimu-Sempai?"

"Afraid not, looks like we won't have much to report to Yukari-Sama about for tonight," Reimu said.

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that girls," A teasing voice echoed in the darkness, causing both girls to jump.

appearing between the two was what appeared to be a familiar blonde woman, whose body was half-hanging out of a gap torn through reality, with a smirk. Youmu was the first to recognize the woman, and bowed in greeting, "Yukari-Sama, good evening."

"W-wait, what the hell?" Reimu cried in shock, as she got her first look at her Principal's strange powers, "are you hanging out of a gap?"

"Yes, it's kind of one of my powers Reimu-dear, but enough about that," Yukari said, clearing her throat, "We need to talk shop for now."

"Hai!" both girls said, suddenly standing at attention and waiting for the woman to go on.

"From what it appears to me, a very powerful Youkai has either come out of hibernation, or has just awakened to their powers, and has seen fit to go on a murderous rampage," Yukari explained, "This is quite troubling, since it would seem her powers are relatively ancient, which translates to a very strong Youkai."

"It doesn't matter how powerful they are, our job is to determine if it's a threat, and if we need to exterminate it, correct?" Reimu stated, but Yukari shook her head.

"That is the problem Reimu-Chan," Yukari started, "Because as soon as that Youkai was out of sight, all of our trackers turned off."

"You mean it can turn off it's powers at will?" Youmu asked, and Reimu noticed the way the girl's hands were shaking at her side. Reaching out, she interlocked her fingers with the other girl in an attempt to calm her down, which Youmu seemed to appreciate.

"That is what it appears, which means that for now the trail has gone cold," Yukari stated, "In which case, you both ought to head home and get some sleep. This mission has been assigned to the two of you, but without a target to track, it's better for you both to focus on school," She ordered.

"Hai Yukari-Sama," The girls mirrored, and gave the woman a nod.

"I will have Ran-Chan keep you posted, and if we regain the trail of our wayward Youkai target, I want you to both to be ready to move out as soon as possible. This needs to be cleared up as quickly and painlessly as we can manage, since this Youkai is obviously dangerous."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Also, good night girls," Yukari said with a wink, before she slipped back into her gap and it winked out of existence.

The minute the woman was out of sight Reimu breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay, if anything, that woman has only become creepier."

"Yukari-Sama has that effect on everyone, don't feel singled out," Youmu comforted, "But she is right, we should call it a night, otherwise we will be wiped out for classes tomorrow."

"Yeah. Good night Youmu-Chan," Reimu waved, receiving a muted wave from her partner before she bolted off in the direction of her house.

Youmu's cheeks flared as she walked home that night, her mind abuzz with Reimu's smiling face, and kind gestures.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"What's up with you? You seem like a total zombie this morning Reimu," Marisa commented as the four girls made the walk to school that morning.

Her mind still abuzz with all of the information she had received from Youmu the previous night, and with questions about the mysterious Youkai that seemed able to control the darkness at will, Reimu found herself unable to fall asleep until quite late, and had ended up passing out while reading from the book of urban legends.

It seemed like one page was stuck on her mind though, a small tale of a Youkai that could control darkness, who had nearly pitched the world into an eternal night, before being defeated by an ancient Youkai sage, and was sealed away for 10,000 years. Reimu had a feeling the story was connected to their new mysterious target.

"Reimu-Chan, I know that you take your shrine maiden duties very seriously," Letty began, "But don't you think that pulling an all-nighter studying from those scrolls is going a little bit far?"

"I'm fine you two, stop worrying so much," Reimu grumbled, having to stop and cover a loud yawn that came unbidden, and trying to ignore her friends.

Meanwhile Cirno had run ahead, and was already at the school gates, waiting impatiently as only a child could for the three girls to catch up, while shouting at them, "C'mon you slowpokes, go faster!"

"The more ya say it, the slower I'm gonna go Bozu!" Marisa teased, making the blue-haired girl fume.

"You know we wouldn't worry if you kept your health in mind, right Reimu-Chan?" Letty asked.

"I am just fine Letty-Sempai, now drop it," Reimu hissed, but was startled by the gentle hand that found it's way into her hair, and began to ruffle it.

"Whatever you say dear," the older girl replied, continuing to run her fingers through the girl's hair.

Cirno had bolted off the minute the girls arrived at the front gate, and was now chatting animatedly with her friends, who Reimu was pleased to see looked no worse for wear after the Youkai attack the other night, though something did catch her eye.

Rumia seemed a little more pale than usual, and far less animated than normal, but was still giving her friends that easy-going smile Reimu never saw the young blonde without, though it now looked strained.

"Looks like Reimu ain't the only one pulling an all-nighter," Marisa commented, "Maybe it's every girl with R-names or something that are just too stubborn to sleep at normal times."

"Now Marisa, that's rude," Letty replied, though Reimu thought she saw the flash of something in the older girl's eye, but it was gone too fast for her to confirm, "Shall we get inside and collect our things then?"

"Hai," both girls replied, leaving Cirno to chat with her friends.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"With the ability to bend and weave shadows at will, and even blot out the moon with ease, the Shadow Youkai was a threat to the entire world, and could have engulfed the entire world in an eternal night if she had not been sealed by the Youkai Sage," Reimu repeated for what felt like the umpteenth time, her mind always looping back to that story she had read the previous night.

"It may have a connection to the Youkai we saw last night, but that still leaves us the problem of finding and confronting her, and how we would be able to defeat such a powerful Youkai by ourselves," Youmu commented, sitting with her back against the fence that surrounded the perimeter of the roof, her kendo blade sitting innocently beside her.

"Well it's like you said, if Yukari-Sama didn't think we could do it, she wouldn't have assigned the mission to us," Reimu tried to remain positive, "Besides, maybe after being sealed away for so long, the Shadow Youkai's powers have weakened considerably, and now we may be a match for it."

"I am hoping you are right Reimu-Sempai," Youmu replied meekly.

"Oh you girls shouldn't be so worried about a little Youkai like that," Yuuka said as she suddenly came up the stairs, carrying what appeared to be a parasol over her shoulder.

"What do you mean Yuuka-Sensei?" both girls asked, causing the doctor and gardener to chuckle.

"Our little shrine maiden here has a lot more power than she's letting on, and when it comes right down to it, I think you two are more than a match for a Youkai whose been sealed away for the last 10,000 years," Yuuka explained as she put her hand on top of the brunette's head.

"For now we have to be able to find the Shadow Youkai, before we can wear her down and exterminate her," Reimu grumbled, but the gardener laughed again, "Oh don't worry girls, these things just have a way to work out."

"Hai Sensei," The two said, packing up as the bell for fifth period sounded through the school. It was just as Youmu reached the door that the woman spoke up again, "Oh and I'd suggest checking out a little shop in town this weekend, a place called Kourindou, I'm sure he'll have some knowledge about your little target."

"Arigatou Yuuka-Sensei," Youmu said.

"Don't be a stranger dears," The woman waved.

Once the two were out of sight and hearing the green-haired woman began to laugh, "The seeds of fate have begun to be sewn, but has Yukari-Baka chosen right in placing all of her hopes of a good harvest in those two sprouts, or will they wither under the downpour we are going to be facing?" The rather creepy woman's laughter continued to echo out for miles as she turned and disappeared in a flourish of flower petals.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 8 complete**

**After deliberating on the matter for a bit, I decided that two updates a week would be better, considering my effectiveness in writing new chapters. Thus updates will now happen on Mondays and Thursdays, with maybe a bonus chapter released every so often. Ja Ne!**

**Stay tuned for Chapter 9**


	9. Chapter 9

**A Shadow over Gensokyo Part 2**

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"TTeybayo, the weekend is here!" Marisa cheered as the four girls walked out into the school courtyard, the blonde-haired girl smiling wide as she lead the charge, arms held up and being followed by an excitable blue-haired girl.

"Yay for the weekend!" Cirno echoed her Sempai, chasing after the blonde as the pair hurried ahead of the two more refined girls of the group.

"What are we going to do with those idiots?" Reimu grumbled, though Letty laughed good-naturedly at the girl's antics.

"Let them be, it feels like it's been a very long week, and they deserve to let out some energy now. Besides, this means they'll be less excitable tomorrow, and maybe we can actually get something done," The older girl pointed out, Reimu nodding in agreement.

"What are our plans for this weekend anyways Letty-Sempai?" The brunette asked, "I still haven't been assigned any hours, and I do have one small errand to run, but otherwise I'm free."

"Oh I'm sure that between Marisa-Chan and Cirno-Imouto, we'll have plenty to do," The older girl laughed again, "Now c'mon, before we lose sight of the two."

"Hai Sempai," Reimu agreed, and the two quickened their pace after their wayward friends, though Reimu noticed something out of the corner of her eye that caused her to pause a moment in surprise and concern.

Standing beneath a withered cherry blossom tree was Rumia, and she looked worse than she had that morning. Her skin was a sickly white, her eyes were sunken in and turning a red colour, and her hair seemed to be turning white. This unnerved the shrine maiden, but she was snapped out of her daze as her Sempai called her out.

"Are you coming Reimu-Chan?" Letty asked, "I know you are slow, but please try your best to keep up," She teased.

"Hey!" Reimu growled, "I'll be along in a minute, I was just..." But when she turned back to inspect the small blonde girl further, she was surprised to find Rumia gone, along with the withered tree.

"You were just what, Reimu-Chan?" Letty asked, walking up behind Reimu and looking where she had been, "How sad, they finally removed that one sickly cherry blossom tree."

"But," Reimu would have explained what she thought she'd seen, but an odd nagging at the back of her mind caused her to bite her tongue, and instead reply with simply, "Yes, how sad." Regaining her composure, the brunette grabbed her Sempai's hand and began to drag her along, "C'mon, like you said, we shouldn't leave those two to their own devices for too long. We don't want Marisa giving Cirno any of her bad habits."

A small smile played at the older girl's lips as she allowed herself to be dragged along, though her eyes found their way back over her shoulder at the hole where the tree had once stood, and she sighed to herself.

Luckily the two girls hadn't gotten that far ahead of them, and they were able to catch up with them in a short time. Reimu was quick to attempt to chastise the Blonde, "Marisa, you shouldn't go out of our sight, what if something happened to you?"

"Geez Reimu, you're not my mom, and I'm the same age as you, you aren't the boss of me," Marisa complained defiantly, folding her arms across her chest and pouting, which made the other girls laugh.

"So Letty-Nee, what are we going to do this weekend?" Cirno asked, looking up at her big sister, whose hand she was now holding onto tightly. She also reached out and took Reimu's hand, forming a human chain between the three girls.

"Reimu-Chan says that she has an errand to run this weekend, but otherwise I'm sure that we can find something to do," Letty explained, "did you have anything you need to pick up or do Marisa-Chan?"

"Huh? oh, yeah, actually, I really should check in with my buddy Kourin, feels like it's been forever since I last saw the guy, and god knows what kind of crazy junk he's picked up since my last visit," The blonde replied, intertwining her fingers behind her head as she walked next to Reimu.

"Kourin, you mean that man that owns that small second hand store? What was it called again?" Letty asked curiously.

"Kourindou, I'm sure that I've mentioned it before," Marisa replied, trying to subtly intertwine her fingers with Reimu's as the girl was distracted, listening to Cirno for the moment.

Reimu recognized the name immediately as the place she had overheard Yuuka-Sensei suggest, and suddenly the pieces clicked in her head, "Oh yeah, let's go see Rinnosuke-San, he is always getting in odd things, and you are always talking about him so animatedly Marisa-Chan," Reimu pointed out, which made her blonde friend grin.

"Then I suppose it's settled, we will go to Kourindou after Reimu finishes her errands," Letty said with a nod, receiving affirmatives from the other three girls. A calm silence followed the end of the conversation, until Reimu thought of a topic she felt needed to be discussed, "Hey Cirno-Chan?"

"Hai?" Cirno asked.

"I couldn't help noticing this morning that your friend, Rumia-Chan, I think it is, looked a little under the weather," Reimu breached, "Did she say anything to you guys about anything being wrong?"

"Oh," The young girl's head seemed to fall as she was reminded of her friend, but quickly perked up, "Rumia-Chan said that she had a lot of trouble sleeping yesterday, and that she's been really stressed out over a test we have coming up soon, so she ended up looking like that."

"What's with the sudden interest in Cirno-Chan's friends Reimu?" Marisa asked, "usually we just ignore team (9). Something come up?"

Ignoring Cirno's indignant cry about the blonde's nickname for her and her friends, Reimu replied to the blonde, "It was just playing at the back of my mind that something seemed up with the girl, I'm allowed to be curious."

"I guess, but I'm sure that if it was anything really bad, Rumia would have told the (9)'s about it," Marisa reasoned.

"Back on topic, where else should we go this weekend?" Letty said, trying to steer the conversation away from where Marisa was taking it, I.E, in the direction of making fun of Cirno's friends, and giving her a headache to deal with in the future.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Reimu found herself awake surprisingly early that Sunday morning, and after completing her morning ritual, came downstairs to find her friends had already arrived, and were taking up residence at her kitchen table.

"Good morning Reimu-Chan," Letty greeted, already working on breakfast with the groceries she and Cirno had most likely brought along, while the Blue and Blonde haired girls sat at the table, tossing around crazy ideas, both wielding pencils and paper which were covered in doodles.

"Morning," Reimu grumbled, and accepted the cup of tea thrust into her hands by her Sempai, before taking a seat between her two friends at the table, and trying to ignore the pair's babbling conversation.

Once breakfast had passed, the group, all wearing casual clothes, set out, Reimu stopping to lock up first.

as they made their way downtown, a thought crossed the Shrine maiden's mind, and she fished out her phone from the backpack she was wearing, gaining the attention of the other girls, "Who Ya texting Reimu?" Marisa asked.

"Youmu-Chan," She ignored Marisa's overblown groan at the name, "One of the teachers suggested we go to Kourindou to find something we need to keep repairing the shrine, and I'm asking her to meet us there," Reimu explained.

"Well I suppose it's okay," Letty said good-naturedly, though Marisa continued to make a fuss about it as the group entered the shopping district, "So where is your errand taking us Reimu-Chan?"

"A little shop called Suzunaan, There's a book there I need to look for, that I heard from a reliable source might be in their stock," The younger girl explained, receiving a nod of understanding from her Sempai, who asked, "Is it for school?"

"Sort of," Reimu half-lied, not wanting to reveal to her friends she was actually going to try and find a book about Shrine maidens, to hopefully get a better grasp of her powers. She felt the less she told them about the matter, the better for everyone involved.

Finally the small shop came into view, and Reimu and Letty immediately grabbed Marisa by the shoulders to stop her simply walking in.

"Now Marisa-Chan," Reimu started, "You know the rules," Letty continued, "No stealing!" Both announced.

"Hey! I wasn't even thinking about it!" The other girl denied, though she received matching incredulous looks from her friends, "I wasn't, this is just a boring old bookstore, I doubt they have anything that'll catch my interest."

"Uh-huh," Reimu was not convinced, "Letty-Chan, I hate to ask, but would you mind staying out here with Marisa and Cirno-Chan, while I go in and look around?"

"I don't mind at all," Letty replied cheerfully, her grip on the Blonde girls arm strengthening, "I'm sure that Marisa doesn't mind either, do you Thief-Chan?"

"A-absolutely not," Marisa said, forcing a nervous smile as she was reminded just how scary her Sempai could be.

"Great, well, I'll be back as quickly as I can, so don't worry," Reimu perked up, and hurried inside, leaving Letty alone with the two troublemakers.

Sighing as she stepped into a world of paper once more, Reimu found herself taking in a deep breath, and immediately regretting it as she began coughing from all of the dust that seemed to be in the air.

"O-oh I'm sorry, I was just dusting the shelves, and there must be tons of the stuff in the air," A younger-looking girl said as she rounded the corner, beginning to rub Reimu's back for her in an attempt to help her expel the dust from her lungs.

"N-no trouble," Reimu croaked out, still trying to catch her breath.

"Where are my manners, I'm Kosuzu Motoori, welcome to Suzunaan books," The girl introduced as she continued to try and help the older girl.

"Reimu Hakurei, and thank you," Reimu replied as she straightened her back, "It's nice to meet you Motoori-San."

"So what brings you to Suzunaan books today Hakurei-San?" The girl asked, brandishing her feather duster and returning to work, looking over her shoulder at the taller brunette.

"I heard this store was well-stocked in ancient books, and I was hoping you might have something along the lines of what I'm looking for," Reimu replied, following the girl along the shelves casually.

"And just what kinda book might you be interested in, Hakurei-San?"

"Any books about Shrine maidens you might have, especially any about any stories that people tell of things they could do, like demon sealing and purification," The girl explained, not exactly sure how to put into words just what she was looking for, but hoping to give the other girl a general idea.

"Ah, I think we have something along those lines among the books of ancient legend, near the back of the store," The girl pointed out, and Reimu nodded, though she couldn't believe it 'more myths and legends? Ugh.'

"Thank you very much Motoori-San," Reimu said with a bow, and hurried to the back, leaving the girl to her dusting. It didn't take long for the shrine maiden to find the book in question, as it was aptly titled "Legends of the Shrine maiden of Paradise. Huh, sounds a little conceited if you ask me."

"I would have to agree," Kosuzu agreed, and Reimu jumped, having not heard the girl sneak up behind her, "Well if that's the book you're interested in, you can borrow it for a few days."

"Borrow it?" Reimu was curious, "I thought this was a bookstore?"

"No, this is more like a lending library," The girl admitted, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, "My father doesn't like to sell his 'collection,' so instead we have a policy of lending out books for a time equivalent to how much the customer pays, and then expect them to return it by or before the deadline."

"Sounds like an easily-abused system for such a small place as this," Reimu grumbled, but noted the hungry look that flashed in the girl's eyes, which put the shrine maiden on edge.

"Oh don't worry Hakurei-San, no one would dare miss the deadline, we have ways of persuading them to return their books on time," The girl stated, and a shiver ran down Reimu's spine at the creepy statement, though the younger girl immediately perked up, "So how long would you like to borrow that book for?"

In the end, Reimu was able to pay to borrow the book for the week, and promised Motoori-San she would have it back by then, if not sooner. The smile she received once again made her shiver, and she began to wonder if this girl was hiding something, but brushed it off once she stepped out back onto the street.

Unfortunately she didn't find her friends there waiting for her, and groaned loudly as she set out trying to find the lot of them.

"God, can't even take simple directions," The girl growled. Luckily she doubted they had gone far, and had an idea of where they had ended up. Just down the street, with a small, worn-down sign, was the girl's next destination.

Kourindou. And standing outside was a familiar Silver-haired girl.

"Ohaiyo Youmu-Chan," Reimu waved.

"Ah Reimu-Chan, where are the rest of your friends?" The younger girl asked, looking around for signs of the three.

"Well, if my intuition can be trusted..." The girl mumbled, before looking at the building the two were standing in front of, and suddenly heard a loud crash from within, which made Reimu smack herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand, "Damnit Marisa..."

"How do you know it wasn't Cirno-Chan?" Youmu teased.

"Letty-Sempai wouldn't let Cirno-Chan touch anything breakable," Reimu explained, and the two sighed as they entered the store. Neither saw the blonde-haired girl standing across the street, head hanging down so her bangs hid her eyes from view, and a black aura dancing around her form. The girls arms began to raise, until they were stretched out perfectly horizontal.

Tilting her head to the side, the girl hissed out, in a distorted voice, "Is that so?"

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 9 complete**

**Stay tuned for Chapter 10**


	10. Chapter 10

**A Shadow over Gensokyo Part 3**

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

The inside of the shop was a disaster, just as Reimu expected of anywhere her Blonde friend was a constant visitor of, and sighed to herself, holding her forehead as she took in the damage.

several expensive-looking devices littered the floor, some in pieces, others luckily intact, though one was smoking dangerously. Up against a wall were several sharp items, thankfully untouched, but one was bent at a strange angle. Reimu doubted that was caused by her friend, though she didn't rule it out.

Standing in the middle of the shop, looking rather proud of herself was Marisa, along with Letty and Cirno, the older girl keeping a tight grip on both girl's hands to prevent any further damage, while a white-haired man wandered around the room, casually cleaning.

"Oh God Rinnosuke-san, I am so sorry for my friend," Reimu announced, causing all eyes to turn to her in surprise, "I can't let that girl go anywhere without causing a mess."

"Hey!" Marisa cried, but was silenced by a look from Letty.

"Relax Hakurei-San, it's fine," The shopkeeper replied, waving off the girl's concern, "I'm used to dealing with Marisa, and most of these things are relatively inexpensive to repair. I keep all of the most important and breakable items in the back, for just such an occasion."

"Oh thank god," Reimu sighed, while Cirno began to laugh. Youmu stepped forward while her friend was occupied, and caught the attention of the shopkeeper, gesturing for him to come with her, and leading him over to a corner of the room while Reimu approached her friends, leaving the business to the younger but more experienced girl, "So what happened to waiting for me?"

"I apologize Reimu-Chan, but Marisa-Chan was becoming impatient, and it rubbed off on Cirno-Imouto, so we decided to continue up the street without you, figuring that you would simply catch up when your business was concluded," Letty explained.

"Yeah, you have any idea how boring it is to stand out there, doing nothing?" Marisa asked, "since Kourin's place is just down the street, we figured it was fine."

"I should be insulted that you couldn't wait five minutes for me," "Hah, as if we waited that long," "Quiet Marisa-Chan," "But really, I've come to expect this from you Marisa," Reimu said with a sigh.

"Hey, don't be acting like you know me so well, I still have a few secrets up my sleeves," Marisa shouted back indignantly.

"I don't want to know about the secrets in your sleeves," Reimu replied, "who knows what horrible things you have packed away in there." Cirno began laughing again at that comment, while Marisa squawked indignantly.

"You trying to pick a fight with me, Reimu?" Marisa asked, pulling her hand away from Letty, and glaring up at her taller friend. Reimu simply smiled down at the girl, and slurred out "Maybe."

Marisa most likely would have jumped at the girl, if Youmu's phone hadn't suddenly gone off, causing everyone's eyes to snap over to the girl, and making Reimu's blood run cold.

"Hey, how did the sun go down so fast?" Cirno suddenly asked, "We couldn't have been in here all that long."

Turning to look, Reimu was startled to see the windows blacked out, almost like it was night time, except for the lack of moonlight bathing the street. Everything was simply pitch black.

"Youmu-chan?" Reimu said, her voice cracking at the end from her nerves.

"Morichika-san, might I suggest you show Letty-san, Marisa-san, and Cirno-san to the back," The younger girl suggested.

"Good idea," The man agreed, and hurried over to the other girls, "C'mon Marisa, I know you've been dying to see the back room, just promise not to touch anything."

"Sure, sure," The blonde replied, though Reimu could see the girl had her fingers crossed behind her back. Sighing in obvious understanding of the girl's lack of sincerity, the tall man gestured for them to follow, until Letty turned back to the two girls.

"Are you two coming?" Letty asked the pair, but received twin head shakes.

"No, we are going to look around out here a bit more," Reimu lied, "I have a feeling what I was hoping to find might be closer than we thought."

"Yes, and I also have something I've been looking for here," Youmu added.

Letty looked ready to begin arguing, but instead shrugged and followed after her sister and troublemaking best friend, leaving the Tenshi partners.

"I think I might know who the Youkai is that's causing this strange darkness," Reimu announced, but was stopped as Youmu replied, "It's Rumia-chan," Flatly.

"Kourin tell you that?" Reimu asked, and received a nod.

"I explained to him about that story you found in the book, and about the girl coming away without any injuries the other day, and he had some ideas. He also claimed to have seen a strange blonde girl stumbling down the street with her arms stretched out, looking quite sickly."

"I also heard from Cirno-chan that she came to school yesterday looking sick, and I thought I'd seen her after school along with a withered tree," Reimu added, "What do you think?"

"She has a powerful Youkai heritage, her powers awoke unexpectedly, and she is unable to control them," Youmu summarized.

"Think we can beat her?"

"I do not know."

"Well no point in waiting to find out!" Reimu cried, pulling out her spell card and releasing her powers. Youmu copied the motion, and the two girls hurried outside.

Everything around them was darkness. Except for the light coming out through the window of Kourindou, the rest of the street was endless shadow, as far as the eye could see (not far), and standing in the middle of the street was their target.

Rumia stood with her arms stretched out to her sides, and her head hanging down, though Reimu thought she could see a single red eye glowing beneath her bangs, and a pair of sharp claws at the end of each finger, which made her nervous.

"Rumia-chan," Reimu began, hoping it possible to diffuse the situation, "If you can hear me it's going to be okay. Just return the sunlight, and we'll take you to someone who can help you."

Both girls shivered as the girl spoke to them, "is that so?"

"I-I don't think she's listening Reimu-chan," Youmu said with a gulp, reaching up to grab the handle of her sword.

Unfortunately the silver-haired girl didn't get the chance to grab her blade, as Rumia rushed the Samurai, and sent her flying with a single attack, Youmu disappearing from view into the darkness, and making Reimu swallow nervously.

"Well Crap..." The girl muttered, as she stood ready to face off with the crazy girl. Rumia didn't give her much of a chance, launching herself at the shrine maiden and going for a horizontal swipe of her sharp claws, which Reimu knew she did not want to meet the end of.

Ducking underneath the attack, Reimu launched a handful of Ofuda at point blank range into the small girls stomach, thankfully causing her to stagger backwards, and giving Reimu some breathing room.

"Rumia, I really don't want to hurt you, since you're friends with Cirno-chan, please don't make me do this to you," Reimu pleaded, though she summoned three Yin-Yang orbs in case her pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Is that so?" The girl asked, and charged again, throwing Reimu on the defensive as she tried her best to dodge all of the girls attacks.

Thankfully the girl's amazing intuition managed to help her dodge most of the berserker swipes from the Youkai, and Reimu managed to find enough focus to detonate one of her Yin-Yang orbs in the blonde's face, blinding both girls momentarily, and getting a pained cry from Rumia.

Attempting to jump away from the melee fighter while Rumia was blinded, Reimu shouted as pain blossomed in her torso, as sharp claws shredded through her clothing and skin like paper, and drew first blood.

Stumbling as she landed, Reimu gasped as she brought a hand down to her stomach, and was thankful to find the wound was fairly shallow, weeping out blood, but not any real threat for the moment. This also proved a valuable lesson: She needed to be more careful with this Youkai.

Thankfully Youmu seemed to be back in the fight, as she charged out of the darkness, and engaged the Shadow Youkai in close-quarter-combat, managing to hold her own for the moment.

"Be careful Youmu-chan, those claws aren't just for show!" Reimu warned, trying to catch her breath and rethink her attacks now that her partner was back in the fight.

"As I learned Reimu-sempai," Youmu replied, and Reimu noticed the younger girl's arm was bleeding.

Tossing out three handfuls of Ofuda at the creature to try and slow it down, Reimu was pleased when two found their marks, and stunned Rumia long enough for Youmu to get in a few strikes, drawing blood.

This seemed to do little to slow down the Shadow Youkai, who suddenly vanished into the darkness that surrounded the pair, and caused the hair on the back of the girls necks to stand up.

Rejoining her sempai, Youmu caught her breath as they waited for Rumia to make a move, until Reimu got an idea.

"I'm not sure how many I can summon, but let's try this," Reimu announced, before closing her eyes for focus, and summoning five Yin-Yang orbs, which circled the pair of girls slowly. Turning to her partner, Reimu warned, "You might want to close your eyes, getting these point blank hurts."

Youmu took the advise to heart, and shut her eyes tightly, just as Reimu closed her fist, igniting all five orbs, and shrouding the pair in a dome of light. A loud screech alerted the girl to a successful attack, and Reimu smirked.

That is, until a long claw came flying at her, and Reimu was just barely able to dodge, though she was punished by a grazing strike to her leg that made her stumble. "D-damnit."

"This is not going well," Youmu said, "should we call in back-up?"

"N-not yet, we've at least been able to injure and slow her down, so maybe we aren't nearly as outmatched as we'd thought," Reimu gasped out.

"If we do intend to incapacitate her, then we will need to come up with a plan," Youmu warned.

"I may have one, but I need a moment," Reimu replied, and received a nod from her partner.

"Is that so?" Both girls gasped as Rumia appeared between them, and barely managed to dodge her claws, unfortunately this forced distance between them, and with Reimu injured, the Youkai's instincts sent Rumia after her first.

Forced back into dodging, Reimu was thankful for her reflexes yet again, which helped her keep away from the claws, even with her injured leg, though she knew that she wouldn't last long at this.

Youmu to the rescue once again, flying in with a downward strike that knocked away the younger girl, and making her stumble, though Youmu also appeared off-balance.

"Can I have a spell-card?" Reimu asked, and Youmu quickly handed over a blank card. Looking down at it a moment, Reimu basked in the thought of just how much power such a small card could hold, and a plan quickly came to mind, something she had read as she skimmed the pages of the book she'd borrowed from Suzunaan.

"I think that I can seal away her powers into a spell-card, I just need to be able to get in close enough without her cutting me down," Reimu announced. Youmu didn't look all that convinced at the thought of her partner putting herself in danger.

"I don't know about this Reimu-Sempai, you are already wounded," The girl warned honestly, but Reimu shook her head.

"All I need is for you to keep her focus, and give me the chance to prepare, okay Youmu-chan?" Reimu asked, giving the girl a smile for incentive, that made her kouhai's cheeks flare.

"H-hai..." Youmu stuttered, reaching down and drawing her short sword, as her Ghostly familiar began to circle around her.

Jumping in to re-engage the younger girl, Youmu fought with a new burst of ferocity, parrying and countering every swipe Rumia attempted, and slowly pushing back the girl, showing her true skills with a blade before Reimu's eyes.

Snapping out of her gawking, Reimu began to focus on the spell-card, and also summoned four Yin-Yang orbs to circle her head as a backup, just in case she needed a quick retreat or a stunner, and waited for the right moment.

Finally she saw it, as Youmu parried one of the girl's attacks and staggered the blonde, and Reimu charged in as fast as she could manage. Youmu spotted the girl out of the corner of her eye, and jumped out of the way, moving to Rumia's other side and pushing forward with her advantage, trying to move her closer to the shrine maiden.

Rumia didn't see as Reimu approached her, and continued trying to fight with Youmu, and was thus startled when Reimu slammed the spell-card to the back of her head, which began to glow with a bright light, blinding all three girls once more.

Trying to blink spots from her eyes, Reimu took in what had happened, and her heart dropped into her stomach. "Oh..."

Surrounding Rumia was an orb of darkness, pure black, pulsing ferociously like a heart, and both girls noticed the wind picking up around them dangerously, almost as if they were standing in a tornado.

Youmu jumped to her side and regarded the situation, "The spell-card doesn't seem to be taking effect, like she is fighting it's sealing powers."

"Yeah, and it looks like her powers are going out of control," Reimu added flatly, groaning.

A sudden blast of wind almost knocked the pair off of their feet, but they managed to regain their balance, and began to think of a new plan.

"C'mon Youmu-chan, one final attack," Reimu stated, summoning a pair of Yin-Yang orbs, and ofuda in both hands.

"If we can overwhelm her barrier, and interrupt her focus, we should be able to give the spell card time to activate," Youmu realized, and readied her weapons.

Both girls took the unneeded signal, and jumped at the barrier, Reimu getting the opening strike by launching a single Yin-Yang orb at the shield, but frowning as it bounced off harmlessly.

Youmu's swords had no more effect, none of her strikes even doing more than making the young girl within flinch slightly.

The wind picked up again, and this time both girls were all but launched off of their feet, Groaning as they hit the ground, and Reimu crying out in pain as her ankle bent unnaturally.

"W-we need to get that barrier down now, before this wind gets any worse, or we're going to start seeing property damage," Reimu said, having to shout to be heard over the roaring wind.

"I cannot believe you can still joke like this Reimu-chan," Youmu replied, but nodded, charging in once more, while Reimu launched three Yin-Yang orb from a distance, which all bounced off of the barrier.

"Youmu, close your eyes!" Reimu warned, before detonating the three orbs, the swordswoman barely given enough time to avoid the flash.

This had slightly more effect, as the barrier rippled from the point of impact, and Youmu, with her trained eye, took the advantage.

thrusting forward with her blade, Youmu was rewarded as she pierced the barrier at last, and it shattered around the Youkai girl.

Attempting to slash at the intruder, Rumia's claws were bathed in pure darkness, while Youmu went for a stunning blow, hoping her speed was faster than the darkness Youkai.

Feeling the claws dig into her shoulder, Youmu bit back her cry of pain, but pushed on regardless, and smacked the Youkai over the head with the broad side of her sword, hard enough to break her concentration.

A burst of bright light flashed in front of the pair, and Youmu jumped away as all of the darkness suddenly retracted around them, being sucked back towards it's creator, and up into the card that floated over her head.

Youmu panted as she held her bleeding shoulder, and watched until the last of the night slipped inside of the card, before it blinked white twice, and turned into a small white orb.

The two girls watched in surprise as the orb spun around the blonde-haired girl's head, before it settled among her hair, and shifted form again, turning into a small red bow. The young girl immediately fell to the ground, unconscious.

"H-ha..." Reimu gasped, "We managed to beat a 10,000 year old Youkai," She was grinning stupidly over at her partner.

"H-Hai," Youmu replied, before both girls fell over, out cold as well.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

When she came to, Reimu was surprised to find herself in a room not her own, instead of out on the street where she last recalled being. She checked and was thankful to find herself back in her street clothes, her spell card safely tucked away in her pocket.

Taking a quick look around, she finally noticed Youmu beside her, cuddling up against her side with a small smile, also back in her street clothes, with her Kendo sword laying up next to the bed. Reimu didn't have the heart to disturb the girl, and instead wrapped her arm around her comfortingly before laying back down.

She planned to try and get more sleep, as her sleep-addled brain didn't ask where she actually was, until a familiar Fox-Youkai stepped into the room, startling her into complete consciousness and making her sit upright suddenly.

This unfortunately roused Youmu, who began to rub her eye adorably as she looked around, "Reimu-sempai, what's up?"

"Reimu-san, Youmu-san, it's good to see that you are both mostly well," The elderly Youkai greeted, gaining Youmu's attention and making her sit upright as well.

"Hello Ran-sama," Both girls were quick to say now that their superior had their full attention.

"Yukari-sama wishes to forward her congratulations on defeating such a powerful Youkai without any backup, but also would like me to remind you both not to take such risks in the future," The Fox stated, making both girls blush, "You are very lucky that Rumia-san was in a weakened state from fighting off the bloodlust of her Youkai heritage."

"Sorry Ran-sama, we should have immediately alerted a superior when we engaged Rumia-san," Youmu was quick to apologize, but Ran shook her head.

"You both did the right thing, since Rumia-san's powers were quickly going out of control, and she could have easily gone on another rampage and killed everyone in the shopping district, including your friends," Ran stated bluntly, causing Reimu to freeze up, "As it stands, you still put very many people in danger with your recklessness, and I do hope that this will not occur in the future."

"Hai!" Both girls cried, before Reimu remembered something, "What happened to Rumia-chan?"

Finally the rough Youkai's visage broke into a small smile, and Ran tilted her head, "While Rinnosuke-san took care of you, Kamishirasawa-sensei and Kazami-sensei retrieved the new darkness Youkai, and have brought her to the school. her wounds will be taken care of, and she will then be paired up with a senior Tenshi, to have her powers trained."

"Trained?" Reimu asked, "I thought that Youkai were either terminated or bound?"

"Yes, usually," Ran said, with a hint of annoyance, "But in this case someone got the bright idea to use a spell card to bind the girl's power, so she now operates under the rules of the Tenshi, and will be trained as one."

Reimu had the sense to look sheepish, until Ran smiled again, "It was a good plan, to be honest girls, We have never considered using a spell card to seal a Youkai's power before, and this opens up a whole new method of dealing with Youkai for the future, as well as expanding our own ranks."

"Do you believe it will work for every Youkai though?" Reimu asked curiously, and was disheartened as Ran shook her head, "Doubtful, Rumia-San was a very special case, even with her massive abilities, her powers were still very freshly awakened so there was a window of opportunity to bind her powers. It will not work for mature Youkai, as many of them have already passed that window."

Reimu's shoulders slumped slightly, but she did have to feel a little happy that they had discovered a way to help some Youkai. She might have ruthlessly killed that Vampire, but it was obvious he had no intent of being redeemed.

"What about Reimu-sempai's friends?" Youmu suddenly asked, "I know that Rinnosuke-san was entertaining them, but if he had come to collect us, then where are they?"

"Do not worry, we have that matter covered, though I will warn you that Kirisame-san will be slightly indignant the next time you see her," Ran stated mysteriously, "With your debriefing, I will bid the both of you good night," The Blonde Youkai bowed to the pair, before leaving the room, gently closing the door behind her.

Reimu fell back onto the mattress with a sigh of relief once Ran was gone, "Whew, quite the day, eh Youmu-chan?"

"Yes, I cannot believe we managed to defeat such an ancient Youkai through sheer luck, and also saved Rumia-chan, but I am happy we didn't have to take her life," Youmu admitted, laying down with her sempai.

Reimu yawned and stretched her arms up, before grabbing the younger girl and pulling her into a one-armed hug, "Think Morichika-san would mind us bunking here for the night?"

"Perhaps we ought to ask him before..." Youmu stopped as she realized her partner had already fallen asleep, breathing slowly as she half-cuddled with her kouhai.

Blushing at the closeness, Youmu sighed in mock annoyance, before pulling her sempai close enough to complete the cuddle, and closing her eyes, muttered into the girl's shoulder, "Good night Reimu-chan."

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**A Shadow over Gensokyo complete**

**Any feedback regarding the first real battle of this series, and what could be changed to improve the experience for the readers would be incredibly appreciated.**

**Stay tuned for Chapter 11**


	11. Chapter 11

Reimu rushed around the house to collect her things, and make sure she had whatever she needed, as the morning passed in relative silence.

It appeared that her friends weren't going to bother her this morning, and she was mildly concerned it might have something to do with their Tenshi duties forcing them to bail on the girls.

After staying the night at Kourindou, Reimu and Youmu woke early to find the shopkeeper already hard at work on breakfast for the two girls. Both were understandably grateful to the man.

"Good morning Tenshi-San," The man quickly greeted, helping to calm down Reimu, who wasn't sure if the man was in on their secret, or if they would have to make a quick excuse in front of the shopkeeper. Her memories of Youmu talking to the man the previous day regarding Rumia's case should have tipped her off, but her sleep-addled mind wasn't working very fast.

The two girls thanked the shopkeeper profusely for the use of his bed, and for breakfast, before they went their separate ways, needing to run home and collect their school supplies before first bell rang.

On their way out the door, Reimu caught Rinnosuke calling to them, "Don't hesitate to come to me for information regarding a case, I'm always hearing things," Which made the girl wonder if that was where his true business ventures lied, and his shop was just a front.

Sighing in relief as she finally stepped outside, Reimu was surprised to find Letty and Cirno waiting for her across the street, and both gave the girl a casual wave while she locked up her house, before hurrying across the street to meet up with them.

"Good morning Letty-sempai, Cirno-chan," Reimu offered with a small smile that she was pleased to see at least Cirno return, though hers was huge.

"Morning Reimu-chan, how was the rest of your night?" Letty asked as the three began their walk to school, Cirno running ahead when she realized it was going to be boring girl talk.

"Fairly uneventful, I took a look through that book that I bought from Suzunaan, and ended up falling asleep early," Reimu lied easily, scratching the back of her neck in faux embarrassment.

"Using your book as a pillow again Reimu-chan, what are we going to do with you?" Letty laughed, making Reimu huff, "Hey, at least I read a book every once in a while," "Yes, but nothing school-related."

Rounding a corner, Reimu noted the lack of someone from their group, "Hey, where's Marisa-chan?" Reimu asked her Sempai, who shook her head in response to the impromptu question.

"Cirno-imouto and I never met up with her this morning, and there was no response at her place, so I would imagine she fell asleep in her research again," Letty admitted with a small laugh, "I know we nag you about your studying habits, but Marisa must be just as bad, if not worse than even you are."

It was well-known among the students that Marisa was a fanatic towards the occult and supernatural world, Reimu mused. If the girl wasn't spending her time studying fantastic things online, then she most likely had her nose in a book reading about it, though she was much more responsible with her studying than Reimu, and she could pass for fairly normal at school, where her tendencies usually were pushed aside for more harassment of those around her, and her kleptomania, which the three girls had to keep track of.

"I'm sure that she'll be waiting at the gate for us, same as always," Reimu waved off the girl's disappearance, "Marisa might be fairly crazy, but she's at the very least dependable." Most of the time, she kept to herself.

"True, true," Letty replied, and the two sunk into a casual silence watching Cirno, who now appeared to be hopping on one foot towards the school for only a reason that the 9 knew.

The towering building came into view shortly, and, true to Reimu's words there was a blonde-haired girl wearing the all-girl's school uniform standing outside, one hand holding her opened phone, while the other held her bag behind her back, looking surprisingly normal for once, if Reimu had to be honest. She also found her cheeks growing warm for some reason, as she looked at her oldest friend, but quickly shook her head and put on an easy smile.

At least, the girl appeared normal until she spotted the three, and started waving to them frantically, "heeeey!"

"Marisa-chan!" Cirno cheered, rushing up to the blonde, while Reimu and Letty took a more leisurely pace, knowing the girls wouldn't go anywhere until they started their morning conversation.

"Yep, still cute as a button Cirno," Marisa claimed, poking the younger girl on the nose playfully with that same cocky grin on her face that Reimu couldn't help smiling at. She was sure that if she stopped seeing that smile, that something would be up with her long-time friend.

"Hey, so what's with you running out on us yesterday Reimu-baka?" Marisa asked, putting her hands on her hips girlishly, and glaring up at her friend. Reimu tried her best not to laugh at the tomboyish girl's attempts at looking tough, and cleared her throat.

"Sorry Marisa-chan, but the call of knowledge was just too strong to resist," The girl replied, causing Marisa to huff.

"Bah, could have at least waited till the end of the day, we ended up just drifting home after we finished at Kourin's and playing video games for the rest of the evening," Marisa admitted.

Ah yes, Reimu remembered with a groan, Marisa's other hobby, video games. She probably should have blamed the girl's previous guardian, as well as Morichika-San for getting the girl into them, as she knew the two encouraged her into the fantasy worlds that games offered her, and never thought about the consequences, such as her sticky fingers. She heavily blamed video games for that, along with a _second _source.

"And I'm sure that you beat Letty-chan and Cirno-chan into the dust in one of your millions of fighting games," Reimu commented, receiving a confirming wide grin from her friend.

"Ya bet! Besides, you're the only one I ever can get a real challenge out of," Marisa admitted, "Letty would rather play adventure games, and Cirno likes the puzzle games."

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you'll talk me into a match or two yet," Reimu said condescendingly, adding insult to injury by patting her friend on the head and causing the girl's temper to flare. She stamped her foot in indignation at the girl, and her cheeks puffed up comically and adorably.

"You don't have to sound so damn resigned about it," Marisa announced, but went ignored as Reimu walked past her, onto school grounds, and gestured for the three to follow.

"Come along dears, we should get going before first bell," Reimu stated mockingly, only furthering Marisa's anger, but the three did follow obediently, Cirno laughing at the pair's antics as she followed her big sister.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Lunch once again found Reimu sitting together with Youmu up on the roof of the school, but the pair were quickly interrupted just before they began to eat lunch by the intrusion of a familiar blonde-haired girl, as well as a tall green-haired woman who was gently encouraging her forward.

Reimu immediately recognized Rumia, though she had to admit the girl looked a hell of a lot better than she had the previous day. Her eyes were no longer sunken in, and her hair had returned to a naturally vibrant blonde colour, and her eyes, which she noted were bright red, were full of life.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you dears during one of your "meetings," Yuuka announced with a slight mocking tone along with a set of air quotations, "But I'm afraid our newest recruit has apparently thought of something that she needs to say to you, and was quite adamant about me bringing her to speak to you today."

"What is it Rumia-chan?" Reimu asked, looking up at the surprisingly small girl, startled by just how much trouble she'd been able to cause for someone so tiny.

The blonde haired girl shuffled her feet nervously at first, but then her eyes shone with fresh life and she quickly blurted out her message, "Domo Arigatou (thank you very much) Reimu-sempai, Youmu-sempai!" Before taking cover behind their sensei. Reimu thought she could see the girl's cheeks turn bright red, but brushed it off as unimportant.

"Do not think anything of it Rumia-chan," Reimu said with a small smile.

"We did what we had to in order to protect everyone and complete our mission, and that included helping you," Youmu explained, making Yuuka smile down on the three.

"Is that so?" The girl asked, apparently finding her courage, and peeking out from behind their sensei, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

"That is so," both girls echoed good-naturedly, to the amusement of the pair, before Reimu spoke up, "So Kazami-sensei, how is Rumia-chan doing now?"

Yuuka reached down to rest a hand on top of Rumia's head, probably in order to keep the girl from running off, which wouldn't have surprised Reimu, while she answered, "She is doing fine, after resting for a while, and having everything explained to her by Yukari-chan, Rumia is almost ready to begin accepting missions, as soon as we find a suitable partner for her."

"You mean Yukari-sama doesn't have one ready for her yet?" Youmu asked in surprise, and Yuuka shook her head.

"We have a rough idea, but in order to go through with it means splitting another team. Thus Yukari-chan is hesitating, but I'm sure that she will go through with it in the end, since the Senior member of that team doesn't really need to teach the Junior anything else," Yuuka explained.

"So Rumia-chan, remember to work hard and get good at using your powers," Reimu told the girl, which she thought made Rumia's face light up in joy.

"Don't Worry Reimu-sempai, I'll do my best to become a powerful Angel of Darkness!" Rumia announced, before rushing down the stairs without waiting for their Sensei.

"My, quite the spirited young thing she is," Yuuka commented, before regarding the pair, "Don't stay up here too long girls, you don't want to be late to your next period," She warned, before taking her leave after the Youkai of Darkness.

Once they were once again alone, Reimu was startled as Youmu began to laugh loudly and openly, holding her stomach, "What's so funny?"

Youmu, unable to answer through her laughter, had to wait for it to die out slightly before she could respond to the girl's agitated question, "It's just you, and your amazing ability to inspire people."

"Inspire...people?" Reimu echoed, feeling completely lost.

"You didn't notice Reimu-chan, the minute you told Rumia-chan to work hard, her eyes lit up like a brilliant Christmas tree, and she got so animated from only your words," Youmu explained, before devolving back into laughter.

Reimu blushed in embarrassment at the girl's rather true statement, she had noticed the way the girl's eyes had lit up, but brushed it off as that childlike energy all girls had at that age. She really didn't think her words did all that much.

"Though, I do wonder who Yukari-sama will pick to be Rumia's partner," Youmu admitted, "It's not often a team is split just to give a new recruit a partner, and from how it sounds Yukari-sama trusts these two will work well enough together to make up for the lost manpower."

"You don't have any ideas based on the Tenshi roster?" Reimu asked, but received a shake of the silver-haired girl's head.

"There is no Tenshi roster, and I believe only Yukari-sama knows about every Tenshi in the area," Youmu stated, "Well, and Ran-sama as well...and I suppose Yuyuko-sama, since she is the woman's best friend," The girl amended sheepishly.

"Then couldn't you ask Yuyuko-san about the matter, since she is so close to Yukari-sama?" Reimu asked, "I'm sure since you are her servant that she will give you the information freely."

Reimu was startled as her partner's back straightened, and her joking tone abruptly cut out for a horrified tone, "Y-you don't ask Yuyuko-sama things," Youmu warned with haunted eyes, which only made Reimu more curious, "Not if you want to keep your sanity intact."

"Oh ouch, your mistress sounds like a nightmare," Reimu said casually, and was thankful that Youmu became calm once more.

"There are some things I have learned over time you should not involve Yuyuko-sama in, and things you should not do in Yuyuko-sama's presence, if you wish to remain unscarred," Youmu admitted.

"Mind giving me a short list of those "things" some time?" Reimu asked. Youmu was quick to nod, "Trust me, you will want to know these things in case of an encounter with the angel of death."

"Good advise," Reimu muttered.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

The rest of the day passed in relative normality for Reimu, and thankfully no calls came in regarding Youkai attack, to the girls relief, since she had to admit (though she hid it quite well) her body felt incredibly sore after their battle the previous night.

Unfortunately it appeared that she had encouraged Marisa's competitive spirits that morning, and was therefore dragged back to the thief's house, along with Letty and Cirno, in order to sate the girl's bloodlust.

And, somehow in the mix, they had managed to pick up a pair of moochers, by the names of Patchy and Alice.

"I don't see what's so great about video games," Patchy admitted mutely, "If it is a test of skills, wouldn't Chess, or for the less refined, checkers suffice, rather than play a silly game of moving pictures?" Reimu couldn't help but think that the girl's comment had been aimed at her blonde friend, who had her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth as she focused on the game.

"I think it might just be how Marisa is," Alice answered, "She doesn't like losing, and she's very direct and tomboyish, therefore spilling blood, even if it is only virtual, in an attempt to defeat her opponent is the only way for her to prove her worth to herself."

"Oi, enough out of the peanut gallery, and let's go for another round!" Marisa cried, as Reimu sat beside her friend, both now wearing casual clothes, and sitting in twin bean bag chairs, Reimu holding her controller in a relaxed grip, while Marisa was gripping hers tightly.

"Oh, but didn't you want us to offer commentary and criticism on how bad you are at your own game," Alice teased, causing Marisa to bristle. "Oh Shut up you crazy seamstress!"

"Temper, temper," Alice chided, but returned to working on the doll she had been mending while speaking with Patchy, keeping half an eye on the two girls as they went about selecting their characters.

Letty and Cirno were sitting nearby, playing cards quietly, well, Letty was at least, while she allowed Cirno to beat her senseless in an attempt to keep the younger girl's attention.

All the while, her eyes followed the impromptu shrine maiden with a trained eye, along with two other girls in the room.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 11 complete**

**I'm cutting chapters back again for the foreseeable future, down to a single update a week, due to some complications I've found while trying to work on a future chapter, and the need for more time to try and get it finished.**

**If I can get things settled relatively quickly, and resume my normal productivity, updates should return to a Monday-Thursday schedule within (I'm hoping) one or two weeks.**

**On a separate note, I'd like to offer thanks to Wolfsbane706 for some behind-the-scenes help and troubleshooting, and everyone else for their kind words and suggestions so far. I really appreciate how much you guys have been enjoying the story, and how helpful and dependable you've been when I've asked for help while writing this. Ja Ne (See Ya)!**

**Stay tuned for Chapter 12**


	12. Chapter 12

**Good news. First of all, new chapter for you, my awesome readers, when I originally planned to publish on Wednesday.**

**Second, I may have thought of a way to push aside my writers block for the time being, by pushing back act 2 to a future time (I'm already about 75% finished it), and instead writing a new act 2 or a sub-act as a filler.**

**Since what I'm having trouble with is one scene during act 2, I figure I'll go with one of the other ideas I've had planned for this act, and make the future act 2 show up later.**

**...The bad news, a few things I've had planned to reveal in act 2 will unfortunately need to be pushed back as well, but with a little bit of editing I think that I can ease the damage, by instead revealing more characters with this upcoming act, instead.**

**Anyways, we'll see what we can make of this, and I'll try and get back into the swing of somewhat regular updates as best I can, and as quickly as possible. Until then, enjoy the new chapter.**

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Yet another uneventful day began for Reimu Hakurei as she found herself startled awake by someone jumping on her bed, "Damnit Cirno-Chan!"

"Hey Reimu-chan! Are you up?" The younger girl asked, looking right into the frustrated girl's eyes with her own bright blue ones, which helped to diffuse some of the girl's attitude. That still wouldn't be enough to save the little idiot though.

After whacking the younger girl over the back of the head as punishment for startling her awake, Reimu quickly got changed into her school uniform and grabbed Cirno's hand, walking the girl down the stairs with a small smile.

Of course she found her friends seated around her house again, and she groaned in her head. Letty was currently cooking breakfast for the girls, while Marisa seemed to be holding up a surprisingly tame conversation with Alice, and Patchy appeared to be attempting to ignore her classmates, with her nose deep in her own book that Reimu couldn't read the title of.

Spotting the shrine maiden coming downstairs, Marisa began waving enthusiastically to the girl, "Happy first day of winter Reimu-chan!"

"What are you babbling about now Marisa-baka?" Reimu asked as she took a seat on the other side of the Monochrome thief, "It's still at least late summer, the cherry blossoms are still out, and the leaves haven't even begun to change colour yet," she argued.

"It would appear that the weather likes to make a fool out of you, Reimu-chan," Letty said, putting down a plate in front of the shrine maiden before moving on, "We saw light snowfall last night, and the temperature dropped rapidly in the area."

"Ah great...does that mean we should change to our winter uniforms early?" Reimu asked, but the girls shook their heads, "So we'll just freeze to death then."

"I don't know why you guys are complaining, I think the weather is nice," Cirno chirped out, before digging into her meal and promptly ignoring her friends, and her sister chiding her about eating slower.

"We'll just need to remember to bundle up appropriately," Letty continued, patting her little sister on the head affectionately, then crossing the room in order to begin cleaning up after herself, in addition to tidying up the younger girl's place.

"Has been some strange stuff happening lately," Marisa commented idly, "There was a huge thunder storm that night after Reimu got attacked, the other day it got dark super early, and today it's snow of all things."

"Maybe global warming is finally catching up to us?" Letty joked, but no one laughed.

"I'm sure whatever is causing all of these strange weather patterns will reveal itself in time," Alice said, as she continued to eat at a leisurely pace.

"Hope so, this is throwing off all of my after-school plans," Marisa grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance.

Patchoulli gave the blonde girl an incredulous look, "You mean harassing me at the library, going to bother Morichika-San, and thinking up pranks to pull on Alice-san?" She listed off, all without looking up from her book.

Marisa had the decency to look sheepish, "Well, I didn't say they were all good plans," the blonde corrected, "and besides, what I do with my free time is up to me, what does it matter to you ya shut-in bookworm?"

"Absolutely nothing at all," Patchy replied sleepily.

"Then why even bring it up," Marisa groaned, and Reimu had what was most likely the best answer for the girl, "So you'll rat yourself out to Alice-chan."

The blonde stiffened as she turned to her friend, who looked absolutely livid at the mention of pranks her Monochrome friend might be planning to pull on her in the future, "I cannot believe you Marisa, I only just forgave you for breaking one of my dolls, and I just managed to finish repairing it the other night!"

"Now, now Alice-chan, I didn't say that any of them involved damaging any of your precious dolls, did I?" Marisa attempted to back peddle, but all of the girls could tell that the seamstress wasn't buying it.

"Argh, you are insufferable sometimes Marisa-chan!" Alice cried, before packing up her sewing supplies and storming out. Marisa was quick to grab her own things and hurry after her fellow blonde, crying out for her attention, "Alice-chan, wait for me, I'm sorry!"

Reimu turned to regard the oldest member of the group, and blinked twice up at her, "Well, time with Marisa and Alice is never boring, at least."

"Indeed, oh, are you done Patchoulli-san?" Letty asked, noticing the quiet girl push away her plate.

"Hai, thank you for the meal sempai, but I should be off, I need to go and prepare the library for the day, and I have a feeling the weather is going to take a turn for the worse before it gets better today," The purple-haired girl explained.

"What makes you say that?" Reimu was quick to ask, and found herself unnerved by the crooked smile Patchoulli gave her in response, "Because a storm is brewing. It may not strike today, or next week, but it is coming, and it is going to be massive," the girl announced cryptically, before scooping up her book and leaving after the two blondes.

That was especially odd, Reimu mused to herself. She wasn't usually one for premonitions, but from how it sounded, Patchoulli was implying she could tell something was coming. And like she said, it was going to be big.

Ah well, something to worry about in the future, when she could get some more information out of the girl, and maybe a more clear reading on what could be happening. Until then, she still had a life to live.

"So Letty-chan, Cirno-chan, maybe we ought to head out as well, if Patchy-chan's cryptic message is anything to go by," Reimu suggested, pleased by the quick agreement her two friends offered in response.

Helping out Letty to speed up the process of after-breakfast clean up, the three girls made short work of the dishes, and were out the door quickly, Reimu having to stop but a moment to lock up, before tightening her scarf around her neck securely, and following after the Whiterock sisters.

The girl would be lying if she didn't think it odd how little the sisters were wearing to combat the suddenly cold weather though. Cirno was only wearing a light jacket, and Letty was in a trench coat, neither jacket really made for combating the winter chill she could feel dampening the air.

"I hope it's not going to get worse than this," Reimu commented, "Winter is always such a hard part of the year."

"Maybe we should all chip in to buy you a heater then, Reimu-chan," Letty suggested, but Reimu was quick to shake her head, "No, that's way too expensive for you all to buy. Especially for my birthday, Cirno-chan," The girl added when she noticed Cirno preparing to make an argument, "Really, I'll be fine, I've survived plenty of winters before, this one won't be any different for me."

"We will be bringing you a few extra blankets if the weather worsens over the next few months, at the very least," Letty stated, and quickly interrupted Reimu's objections, "No arguing about this Reimu-chan, we worry about you enough without having to be concerned about you freezing to death."

Reimu pouted the rest of the way to school, to hide how her cheeks reddened from her friends kindness.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

As the three girls stepped out into the courtyard that afternoon, Reimu found herself shivering for the umpteenth time because of the sudden cold weather.

"Seriously, what is up with this weather the last couple of days," The shrine maiden complained loudly, "If you're going to start winter early then give us a bit of warning!"

"I don't think yelling at the sky is going to help much Reimu," Marisa joked, her fingers interlocked behind her head as she followed her best friend. The two girls quickly took their normal table, and were soon joined by Letty and Cirno, who had needed to cross more of the school to reach the front after their fourth period classes.

Just as she was about to dig in, Reimu noticed something out of the corner of her eye, "Hey look, Sanae-chan is back."

Just coming onto the school ground was a familiar green-haired girl, with the ever-adorable (Even Reimu had to admit it) frog hairclip, wearing a heavy jacket to combat the chill.

"Good to see that she's back to health, now let's dig in!" Marisa cheered, and prepared to do just that, until Reimu suddenly got up, gaining the blonde's attention, "Huh, something wrong Reimu?"

What the other girls hadn't noticed while they were distracted, but Reimu had caught, was the way the girl was shivering, and how her breath was visible from the cold air, which made the brunette concerned.

"Just a moment, you guys go ahead without me," Reimu said, grabbing her scarf which was half-hanging out of her backpack, and hurrying over to the green-haired girl, "Sanae-san, wait up!" The shrine maiden called out.

Catching Reimu's eyes, Sanae politely waited for her classmate to catch up with her, and then offered her a small greeting, "Hello Reimu-san, how are you doing?"

"I'm good, how are you feeling after getting over your cold?" Reimu asked.

"Fairly well, I just can't believe how quickly the weather has dropped off, my aunts weren't expecting the sudden shift, so they're kind of sluggish today," The girl replied while biting her lip, obviously worried about her relatives.

Without saying another word, Reimu took the scarf in her hands, and began to wrap it around her class-mates neck carefully and without her consent, earning a surprised squawk from the green-haired girl, "R-Reimu-san, what are you doing?"

"I noticed that you were shivering, and that you weren't wearing a scarf," Reimu explained, continuing with her work, "You know that people who recently got over being sick have a higher chance of coming down with something when the weather gets cold like this, right? Therefore you should properly bundle up, we don't want the class good girl to get sick again, do we Sanae-chan?" Reimu asked, finishing her work, and topping it off with giving the taller green haired girl a friendly smile.

Sanae's face went bright red as she saw the girl's smile, and lost the ability to speak from the kindness her friend had given her. Reimu seemed to take this as an incentive, and grabbed the other girl's hand, beginning to lead her back to their table, ignoring the indignant shout Marisa released as she noticed.

"Oh for the love of...not again Reimu!" The blonde cried, "Stop picking up strays already, we can barely afford the ones that we have."

"Excuse me?" Letty asked coldly, and Marisa immediately shut up at the unspoken threat.

Helping the green-haired girl into a seat beside her, Reimu gave her another small smile before regarding her long time friend, "What's the matter Marisa-chan, getting jealous? Afraid that I'll stop having time to pay attention to you if I continue to make more new friends?"

Marisa said nothing to deny the girl's claims, and Reimu laughed, "Marisa, your my oldest friend, I'll always have time for you."

"Ya better, or I'll show ya what for, just like..." Marisa cut herself off and simply grinned back at her friend, though both knew where she had been going, and knew better than to bring it up, especially now.

Sanae still had yet to say anything in her defence, but appeared to be content with keeping to silence, though she was smiling brightly beneath the scarf she had been lent by her new friend.

For being at the school for two years now, Sanae didn't really have many friends. She knew a lot of her classmates by name, and she did speak to them occasionally, but she was content to keeping to herself thus far, and only now that the hand of friendship was being held out to her did she truly feel the crushing loneliness she had been surrounding herself with for the last two years.

"Hey, you don't have a lunch with ya, do you Sanae?" Marisa suddenly asked, gaining the two girls attention, "Care to split with me, I always seem to make too much," She admitted with a laugh, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Err, sure?" Sanae replied slowly, not sure if the class troublemaker was being honest, or if she was just pulling her leg. She was pleasantly surprised when a small bag lunch was dropped in front of her by the blonde girl, and after looking inside, Sanae swore to never mistrust the blonde again (big mistake, she would later learn.)

"Yes, Marisa-chan tends to be a bit of an overachiever, and making lunches just seems like one of the things she enjoys doing," Letty commented, taking a bite from her sandwich as she continued to watch the girls interact.

"Thank you," Sanae announced quietly, but Marisa grabbed her by the shoulders, "What's with the meek and quiet act all of a sudden, where'd that ever-confident good girl go?"

Sanae hadn't realized that she'd been acting any differently, considering her mind was abuzz with all of this new information, but she seemed to snap out of it at the blonde's question, and a smile lit up her face as her cheeks turned rosy, "Thank you very much Marisa-chan!" She announced proudly, receiving a huge grin from the blonde in response.

"That's the way ya do it!" Marisa stated, giving the green-haired girl a thumbs-up, before the three dug in at last, Reimu even catching a quiet laugh from Letty.

She had to wonder if maybe enough had changed in the last two weeks that this winter wasn't going to be as bad as it used to be, while she took a large bite from her own sandwich.

Though Patchouli's warning was still playing at the back of her mind, putting her slightly on edge.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 12 complete**

**Welcome Sanae to the group, she will now become a regular character along with the cast we have already established.**

**Just to avoid confusing anyone, the next chapter will be starting after a roughly three week time skip, in order to move the plot along. If I don't do this, then we are going to have a lot of boring filler chapters between foreshadowing chapters, and a very long time before the next sub-arc begins, since I didn't realize how badly I had planned things out (to be honest, I didn't time the story all that well, and am only now suffering for my messed up timeline).**

**This may also be the beginning of me no longer going on a day-to-day plot, and beginning to jump the plot ahead of pointless days, just to try and speed up to certain events I have planned for the future.**

**Trust me. Ja Ne!**

**Stay Tuned for Chapter 13**


	13. Chapter 13

As it turned out, Reimu mused to herself, this wasn't going to be better than past winters. It was going to be a hundred times worse, Patchouli's prediction had been right on the money, as the weather grew progressively worse as the week wore on, and she was beginning to regret jinxing herself.

Luckily she had some of the best friends ever, as they brought her things to help her survive the winter chill at night, including blankets and warm food, though she was still adamantly against the girls all working together in order to buy her a heater, under the impression it was a ridiculous price to pay for what a couple of blankets could do just as well.

She was slightly surprised by just how quickly Sanae had settled into the group as well, and was pleased that even Youmu was beginning to be accepted as an annoyance at best (though only Marisa seemed to view her as such, for reasons Reimu couldn't fathom), and the girls were having a relatively peaceful time.

That's not to say that all had been quiet for the two Tenshi. A few lesser Youkai had appeared, and needed to be dealt with, but between Reimu's rapidly developing skills, and Youmu's experience in the art, they were made short work of. The shrine maiden was a bit disheartened that none of them appeared to be affected by their attempts to seal their powers and help them to repent for their actions, but Yukari had managed to make a breakthrough regarding this oddity.

During this time it seemed that the other Tenshi had begun to research the method Reimu and Youmu had stumbled across, and come to several interesting conclusions on the matter of Youkai sealing. Of course the Youkai had to be willing to submit to the sealing, or be attempting to fight their deeper nature (as they found out through continued conversations with the younger girl, Rumia had been trying desperately to overcome her bloodlust, but it had only been because of Reimu and Youmu's efforts that she had been freed).

Next, it didn't work on all kinds of Youkai, though there wasn't much field experience on what it could and could not work on yet, as they hadn't seen that many different kinds of Youkai pop up thus far, and it seemed that Yukari was holding back on sending them after the more dangerous Youkai.

Therefore, Reimu supposed things were okay right now. Youkai hunting wasn't all that demanding, and they had yet to hear anything regarding the Youkai group that had tried to attack on that first day, so she could focus on other things.

It was currently the weekend, and the group of girls were heading towards Kourindou, planning on stopping in to see what the strange man might have picked up recently, as Marisa animatedly recounted one of her stories, along with Cirno, who she had brought along.

"So there we were, with the target in sight, and only several large metal boxes between us and our objective," Marisa explained, "We were all ready to run out and complete the mission, when suddenly Cirno-chan noticed something out of the corner of her eye."

"We had been spotted!" Cirno cheered loudly, making Reimu jump, who'd been lost in thoughts and only paying the barest attention to the excitable girls, though the blue-haired girl's exclamation regained her full attention.

"Seeing no other plan than to go ahead without waiting, We charged out, and made a mad dash for the objective," Marisa resumed the story, patting the blue-haired girl on the head for her help, which made Cirno purr comically. "Unfortunately, then trouble struck."

Apparently having enough of the grandstanding, Alice decided to finish the story for the two girls, "To make a long story short, these two charged out from behind the lockers as I was coming out of the shower, ran right past me, and slipped on the water I'd left behind. The pair ended up crashing into the wall, and knocking my locker the rest of the way open."

"Wait, why were they trying to get into your locker again?" Sanae asked, having been trying unsuccessfully to follow the conversation from the start. but struggling with the way the girls didn't explain anything.

"Obviously Marisa-chan has decided to upgrade to a panty thief," Youmu joked, though no one laughed, "Err, sorry." The white-haired girl had the decency to blush at her bad joke.

"No, actually, Youmu has it straight," Marisa admitted, causing the other girls to give her incredulous looks."

"You and my little sister were trying to steal Alice-chan's panties?" Letty asked incredulously, "Why?"

"Cause Alice-chan needs to lighten up," Marisa explained casually, "And what better way than a harmless prank."

"I think you need to rethink your definition of the word "harmless" Marisa," Reimu mumbled, "That crosses the line into downright disturbing territory."

"Oh bah, you all are a bunch of fuddy-duddies anyways!" Marisa announced, running off ahead into Kourindou without waiting for a rebuttal.

"I have know that girl for a very long time," Reimu stated, "and I do not think I will ever understand how her mind works."

"I don't think that anyone could follow the way Marisa's brain is wired, to be honest," Letty replied, laying a hand on her kouhai's shoulder in comfort, while Cirno began laughing.

"On a topic that doesn't involve Alice-Chan's undergarments," Sanae suggested, "Reimu-chan, how have you been holding up so far from this impromptu winter?"

Reimu almost didn't want to answer the girl, as Sanae had a bad habit of blowing out of proportions the girl's unhealthy tendencies, but finally sighed as she answered, "At least it's November now, so it's not nearly as strange to see snow fall."

"I must admit this has been quite the early winter we've received," Letty said wistfully, "almost like a sign of things to come."

"What kind of things?" Reimu tried to ask, but it seemed her friends were ignoring her, as they hurried into the relative warmth of Rinnosuke-san's shop. Turning to her partner, Reimu voiced the question on her mind.

"You don't think that this is a sign of something to come, do you?"

"Who knows, premonitions are not among my abilities, sadly," Youmu said with a small shrug, and Reimu noticed with amusement that the girl's spectre made the same gesture. Patting her friend on the head, Reimu herded the silver-haired girl into the shop, not catching the way the white-haired girl's cheeks lit up at the gesture.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

The wind blew loudly outside as the girls sat around the room at Marisa's place, each borrowing a blanket from the blonde girl to combat yet another drop in the temperature that had arrived alongside a sudden snowfall as they were returning from Kourindou.

Reimu was probably the worst of the lot, as she had always been more susceptible to the cold than anyone, and was cuddled closely to her best friend as they shared a blanket on the black-white's couch, and yet she was still shivering.

"Honestly Reimu, why do you never take better precautions when you know the weather is going to get like this," Marisa asked, but went ignored as Reimu attempted to cuddle closer to her, making the blonde blush.

"Aww!" Letty and Cirno cooed at the pair, while Alice tried to ignore them, and Youmu watched on curiously as the pair played games against each other, as they'd quickly found out the girl was a bit technologically behind.

"Would the peanut gallery kindly shut the hell up," Marisa shot back, trying to keep her focus as her best friend was cuddled up to her, and failing miserably.

Landing the killing blow on her opponent, Reimu cheered, then let out a loud yawn and began to stretch, having just won her fifth consecutive game. Marisa groaned in response, and shut down the system for the night, before turning to regard the girls, "I'm thinking we ought call it a night, Reimu sounds like she could pass out at any moment now, and besides, no one's going home in this weather."

"You don't mind us staying the night?" Sanae asked, and Marisa replied in the positive, "As long as we all promise not to kill each other, I don't see a problem with it."

"I may be able to avoid suffocating you in your sleep as long as you keep as far away from me as possible," Alice warned acidly, but Marisa seemed to laugh off her threat, "That's the spirit Alice-chan."

Sanae snuck over and regarded the swordswoman of the group, "You know, I haven't been able to ignore the fact that it seems Alice-chan is the only one that Marisa-chan uses honorrifics with regularly."

"Yes, I've come to believe that she does it mostly because it annoys Alice-chan," Youmu replied, and the two girls began to nod sagely about the matter.

"Oi, what are you two whispering about?" Marisa asked, but the two immediately played innocent, and gave her matching sheepish grins.

"Marisa, leave them alone, they're probably just talking about you never ending crusade to drive Alice-chan insane," Reimu mumbled at the girl drowsily, "it's any wonder I have any sense left, and I've been dealing with you far longer than either Alice-chan or Patchy-chan."

Cirno releasing a loud yawn ceased the conversation, and Letty took charge of the situation, "all right, that's enough, everyone get off to bed, we still have school in the morning, regardless of a little wind."

"Hai sempai!" The girls replied, and followed the elder Whiterock as she lead the charge up the stairs, half dragging her little sister with her.

Knowing that Reimu would probably not be able to get any sleep without a little extra warmth, Marisa opened her mouth, intending to offer to sleep together with her friend, but was beaten to the punch by her senior, "Hey Reimu-chan, want to cuddle for warmth?"

A tug on the older girl's hand forced her to look down and find her little sister rubbing her eye childishly, "Maa, Letty-nee, can't you sleep with me?"

"Well that takes Letty and Cirno out of the running," Marisa interrupted the older girl's reply, "So how about me and you Reimu?"

"Do you have to make it sound like that Marisa, geez," Reimu replied in annoyance, "Anyways don't worry about it, I'll be fine tonight, it's not that cold.

"Uh huh," The other girls mumbled, to Reimu's annoyance. Now fully awake and annoyed, Reimu grabbed her backpack with her change of clothing (which she always kept on hand, considering she was friends with Marisa) and stormed from the room, determined to not show weakness, and prove her friends wrong.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

Not long after, Reimu was sorely regretting her stubbornness, as she attempted to curl up into a tighter ball for warmth beneath her blanket, her heavier winter sleep wear and blanket sadly doing little to combat the chill she was feeling.

Given a chance to think in silence, Reimu took a quick scan of the room. Laying nearby were the Whiterock sisters, and she noted with some amusement that Cirno was cuddled up tight against her big sister, which just made Reimu want to snap a picture of the pair.

The shrine maiden also noticed that sometime in the night, Marisa had managed to roll her way over to the side of the room that Alice had claimed, and the two were now cuddling as well, and Alice had a small, content smile that was rare to see. It made Reimu wonder why Marisa didn't stop picking on the poor girl, and just admit that she had a crush on her already.

A fresh breeze blew through the room, and Reimu began shivering again, breaking her concentration.

"D-Damnit," The shrine maiden chattered out, cursing whatever was causing this freaky weather, and for how cold it was getting.

The brunette was slightly startled when she felt a pair of hands wrapping around her waist, but managed to bite back her voice when she realized just who it was beginning to embrace her, as a second blanket was draped half over her, and mumbled out her thanks, "Arigato, Sanae-chan."

"I know you said that you didn't want to cuddle for warmth," Sanae admitted sheepishly, "but you looked like you weren't having any luck getting to sleep, and I still owed you for that day that you gave me your scarf, and I feel bad for..." Reimu cut the girl off as she put her hands over her class-mate's own, and gave her a gentle squeeze.

The pair sank into comfortable silence, until Reimu found another person sliding back against her, and she appropriately circled her arms around Youmu-chan, "Thank you both," She mumbled out, as a sudden drowsiness threatened to take her.

"We're partners Reimu-chan," Youmu replied, low enough for Sanae to not hear, "We have to look out for each other."

The next morning, after nearly having a heart attack when she found herself cuddled up against a deeply asleep Alice, Marisa noticed the three girls cuddled together, and couldn't help cooing and taking a picture of the three, "Heh, blackmail," The girl commented, before leaving the room to begin breakfast for the girls.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

A few more days passed in relative normality, as the weather continued to worsen, and Reimu had to try harder and harder to not freeze, until finally, with some annoyance, Marisa finally got tired of seeing her friend like this.

"That's it!" The blonde shouted, making the other girls sitting around the room jump in surprise, having been staring out the window at the falling snow, "You are moving in with me until this winter ends, Reimu, no arguing with me about this!"

Reimu had tried to make an argument with her oldest friend, but the blonde seemed to be having none of it, and practically dragged her back to Reimu's place after school that day, in order to help her pack up everything she might need, before marching her back to the monochrome thief's place, where the other girls were waiting.

Any attempts by Reimu at talking Marisa out of this plan seemed to fall on deaf ears, and her friends were absolutely no help, only encouraging Marisa, and trying to make Reimu see reason on the matter.

"You don't have a heater, and we're already coming over to your place almost daily delivering you hot food and more blankets," Letty pointed out, "At this point, staying with Marisa is better for everyone involved."

Reimu responded to the girl's sensible explanation by spending the rest of the night pouting, as she cuddled with Marisa beneath a blanket.

She did have to admit though, after the first week of staying with the blonde, that it wasn't as bad as she'd thought. Marisa was respectful, she didn't harass her mercilessly like she'd feared, and she was always making sure that her best friend was warm and comfortable, when she wasn't busy doing some of her own research, or out harassing Alice and Patchy.

What the brunette hadn't been expecting was that weekend, while the two girls were sitting about in their pyjamas that morning, for Letty and Cirno to show up at their door, with a pair of ice skates draped over their shoulders, and matching smiles.

"What's with the skates?" Marisa asked good-naturedly, leaning over to peek over the girls shoulders curiously, while Reimu tried her hardest to protect herself from the cold breeze coming in through the opened doorway, pulling the blanket tighter against herself as best she could.

"Can we at least come in first?" Letty asked, and Marisa was quick to usher them inside, and set them up with something warm, though neither girl appeared to have been affected by the weather in the slightest, Reimu noted in annoyance as they sat down on either side of her, and pulled her blanket over their shoulders as well.

"Anyways," Letty said as she reached out to accept the cup Marisa handed her, " I realized this morning since the weather has been getting worse, that it's the perfect time to go ice skating, and I figured we should at least try to invite everyone along, even though this is usually just a Whiterock tradition," The older girl explained.

"You guys have been doing this for years?" Marisa asked, as she took the armchair next to the couch in annoyance, though Reimu couldn't imagine why her friend was suddenly in such a foul mood, when a moment ago she had been just fine. If she had to guess, she would imagine it had something to do with them withholding this information from them.

"Like I said, it's been a tradition, we both learned how to skate when we were really young, and just love it," Letty explained as Cirno chugged her tea with a big smile.

"And judging by the fact you two have shown up at our door this morning," Reimu had to wonder when Marisa had changed the way she referred to her house, "You were planning on asking us along?"

"Yeah, it'll be more fun with more people, and we already called Alice-chan, Sanae-chan, and Youmu-chan!" Cirno announced cheerfully with an infectious grin.

"No Patchy?" Reimu finally spoke up, having been simply enjoying the warmth of the two girls on either side of her.

"We tried to ask her along, but she was quite adamant that skating was not her thing," Letty admitted sheepishly.

"That sounds like her," Marisa mused, "poor frail Patchy, can't even go ice skating because her asthma is so bad."

"Don't sound so smug about it," Reimu chastised the blonde, "and I don't know...it's really cold outside, and we're not even dressed yet, and we haven't eaten," She began to list off, not catching the smiles growing on the faces of the other girls.

"It doesn't take you that long to get ready," Letty countered, "and we know the person that owns the rink, so you can get something to eat there."

"But it's cold outside, and it has to be a really far walk if you two are showing up this early in the morning, and I'm completely drained after trying to deal with Marisa for the last week," "Hey, I've been a perfect gentleman!" "And I'm still waking up."

"Reimu-chan," Letty began quietly, catching the brunette's attention and cutting off her rant, "You can ice skate, can't you?"

"E-Err..." Reimu replied, confirming the girl's suspicion as she ducked her head away from the trio and down to her feet, unconsciously beginning to wring her hands out in her lap as her cheeks glowed a pretty shade of red.

"It's okay Reimu-chan, we can teach you how," Letty offered with a much kinder smile, as Marisa squawked in the background, momentarily forgotten, as Reimu looked up at her sempai hopefully.

"Hey, if anyone is going to teach Reimu how to skate, it's going to be her best friend, of course!" Marisa shouted, re-entering the conversation with a blast, and causing the three to look over at her curiously.

"Oh really?" Letty asked with a disarming smile, "and tell me Marisa-chan, how much skating have you done? Since we have been doing it since we were children."

"T-That doesn't matter!" Marisa argued, "besides, Reimu isn't going to be trying any of those fancy moves you probably know anyways, and it'd be easier to learn the simple stuff from someone closer to her own level anyways!"

"N-Now guys, c'mon, I'm sure that you can both teach me something about skating," Reimu tried to defuse the situation unsuccessfully, as the two continued to glower at each other.

It was going to be one of those days.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 13 Complete**

**Stay tuned for Chapter 14.**


	14. Chapter 14

The four girls walked in an uncomfortable silence towards the local ice rink, Reimu sandwiched between Marisa and Letty, as the blonde glowered at her sempai, and Letty kept shooting Marisa smug looks. Luckily it seemed that Cirno was oblivious to the choking aura, as she was frolicking in the snow, having the time of her life, ignoring her three seniors.

Marisa had pulled her aside, shortly after they left the house, into the shopping district, in order to get the girl a pair of skates that would fit, according to the blonde. Reimu, not knowing anything about the matter, simply nodded and followed, surprised that Letty hadn't raised a fuss about the matter.

She found out when they returned why the elder girl hadn't, as she immediately hooked her arm up with Reimu's, and lead the girl off ahead, claiming in an airy voice that she would be teaching Reimu everything she knew about ice skating. Marisa, being understandably annoyed by this, grabbed Reimu's other arm, and the two practically marched the shrine maiden off, with Cirno trailing along behind.

Reimu let out a sigh of relief when the ice rink came into view, along with the three girls they knew would be waiting for them, and pushed herself away from her friends to run ahead and greet the others, with Cirno hot on her heels, with a big grin on the baka's face.

"Hey!" Sanae called cheerfully, waving frantically and nearly smacking Alice in the face, who glowered at the tall emerald-haired girl, but said nothing, a bag hanging off of the seamstress' shoulder.

"Ohaiyo Sanae-chan, Alice-chan, Youmu-chan," Reimu greeted, glad to be out of the miasma of animosity that had surrounded her for the entire walk here. Unfortunately she forgot they were right behind her, and the feeling returned with crushing despair.

"Okay, I know that I'm going to regret asking," Alice stated, "But what is up with you two?"

"Both of them want to teach Reimu how to ice skate, but neither of them wants the other to teach her how to ice skate, so Reimu is frustrated because they want to teach her how to ice skate!" Cirno listed off with a huge smile, unaware of just how roundabout her explanation had been, and how it had confused the other girls.

"I was right," Alice groaned, holding her forehead as they watched the two continue to glare at one another. Sanae took this chance, and stepped forward to grab Reimu's wrist gently, before beginning to half-drag her towards the double doors into the building.

"Come on Reimu-chan, let's go teach you how to ice skate!" The green-haired girl said enthusiastically, ignoring Reimu's attempts at a protest, followed by Youmu and Alice, who simply refused to get involved with the pairs argument.

It took a moment, but when the pair realized that they had been left behind, Letty was quick to walk inside with a smug smile, and Marisa wasn't far behind, groaning.

Reimu stood there, gawking at the large rink that they could see through the balcony window, right beside Cirno, both amazed at the sheer size, and the few people that were gliding across the ice.

Looking up as her big sister took her place beside her, Cirno thought of something to ask, "Letty-nee, how come we never come here?"

Smiling and laying a hand on her little sister's head, Letty replied calmly, "Because it's much more fun, and less expensive, to simply go skating on free ice somewhere else in the city."

"Pfft, good way to break your neck is what it is," Marisa grumbled, but was silenced by a slap to the back of the head by Alice, who was once again glaring at her in warning. Marisa at least looked sheepish at her snappy tone for a moment, before she perked up and herded Reimu down a set of stairs that led into the locker room, with the others following leisurely behind.

"So do you come here often Marisa-chan?" Youmu asked, as she took in everything they passed, including people with ice skates hung over their shoulders, and laughing together. Alice, who had been walking beside the girl, noticed her shrinking away from the crowds, but brushed it off as the white-haired girl's secret to share.

"Oh yeah, Kourin and I used to come here all the time," Marisa announced loud and proud, "But then he got super busy with the shop (I still don't know what he really does other than collect junk), so I had to start going by myself."

"And you never considered inviting any of us along?" Letty asked quietly, "That seems rather absentminded of you Marisa-chan."

"Well, I never thought that any of you would be interested in it, to be perfectly honest," Marisa replied sheepishly, "Reimu is always complaining about being cold during the winter, and you two are always off doing your own things, so it never even popped into my mind in the first place."

"Acceptable, I will take that as your excuse this time," Letty replied with finality, causing Marisa to gawk at the girl and bristle, her temper beginning to flare up as she continued to lead a disgruntled Reimu about.

Finally the group arrived in a large woman's locker room, and the first order of business Marisa had on her list was to sit Reimu down on a bench, and with finality in her tone, order her to "strip!"

Everyone gawked at the girl's sheer audacity, and Reimu's face went bright red at the command, before she reached out and slapped her tomboyish friend across the face in embarrassment.

"You could have chosen a better explanation than that, Marisa-baka," Alice mumbled, as she took a nearby locker and began to remove her winter wear.

"I-I can't believe you sometimes Marisa-baka!" Reimu shouted, still blushing furiously, and really feeling the itch to slap the girl again, but holding back only because she had known Marisa for so long, "we may have known each other since we were little, but not even you, especially not you, have the right to order me to do something like that, especially in a public place like this!"

"No, you don't understand," Marisa tried to back peddle, "I meant to say, lose your coat and your scarf, and put em' into one of these lockers."

Reimu turned away from the blunt girl, face still red as she mumbled to herself, "then why couldn't you have simply said that instead, without being so brash about it." She still did as the blonde told her, and followed the examples of Alice and Letty, unzipping and removing her coat.

"Now if we had a skin-tight leotard to give ya, that would be an entirely different story," Marisa commented with a cackle, already at work in getting herself ready as well, but felt a chill running down her spine as a pair of vindictive eyes shot lasers at her back. "Eh heh, just kidding, of course."

"Marisa, please try and control yourself," Alice warned, "Before Reimu is forced to do something she will probably not regret."

Youmu, who had been sitting nearby, listening to the girls harass and argue amongst themselves, nervously wrung the hands in her lap as she sat on a nearby bench, having not even begun to remove her own coat. Reimu, noticing this, turned to the silver-haired girl, and tried to ask what was wrong.

"I, err, that is," The Samurai tried to begin several times, scratching her cheek as it grew more and more red, before she was startled by Marisa appearing behind her, and quickly unzipping her coat in an attempt to "help" the poor girl out.

"Ah yes, for someone so conservative as you, that might prove to be a bit of a problem," Letty commented, as the girls got a look at what Youmu had chosen to wear for the day.

Sitting there in a skirt and a pair of knee highs, Youmu's normally pale face was lit up like a Christmas tree, and she began to wring out her hands more, as she ducked her head down in an attempt to hide her blush. Reimu simply blinked at the girl, not entirely sure what the problem was, and turned to Letty with a question on the tip of her tongue.

"The problem, Reimu-chan," Letty said, returning the girl's questioning look, "Is that often when ice skating, if you get too much speed, things like skirts tend to fly up, and for someone as shy as Youmu-chan here, well..." The woman trailed off, as the answer hung in the air for a moment.

Alice, looking up from around the locker door she had claimed, noticed the girl's discomfort, and gave her a way out, "You know Youmu-chan, I may have a pair of pants that you can borrow, if that will save your modesty at all."

"T-thank you very much Alice-chan!" Youmu was quick to say, happy that perhaps she could escape embarrassment in public this time, and hurried over to the other girl's locker, nearly tripping over her own two feet in her rush.

"Geez," Marisa commented as she was in the middle of unloading her skates from her bag, as well as collecting the pair she had bought for Reimu, who was now beside her in the adjacent locker, "We have really got to take a day to try and break Youmu out of that conservative little shell of hers. Someone that shy just won't survive in this big bad world that we live in."

"Youmu is just fine the way she is Marisa," Reimu warned, "Leave her to be the way that she wants to be, instead of trying to turn another poor girl into a clone of you."

"Oh, and when did I last turn a girl to the dark side?" Marisa asked in challenge, looking directly at her best friend curiously.

Instead of offering the girl a vocal answer, Reimu turned and pointed to Cirno, who was grinning as she waited for her older sister to get finished, while kicking her legs over the side of the bench she had claimed as all hers. Noticing the pair looking at her, the young girl began to wave frantically at them, which only Marisa returned half-heartedly as the shrine maiden's point was made.

"Okay, so maybe I've been encouraging Cirno a little too much," Marisa admitted sheepishly, "but that's only one person."

"You've also been trying to get me into most of your harebrained schemes for years, and it's only because of my uncle that I didn't end up in half of those situations that you ended up needing to be bailed out of by Morichika-san."

"Aww c'mon, not all of them were harebrained!" Marisa tried to argue, but went unheeded as Reimu slammed her locker shut, grabbed the recently purchased skates, and stormed past the blonde, being followed by a still blushing Youmu, who was now wearing a pair of sweatpants, and Alice, who had that familiar air of nobility about her, and out the door.

"To be honest with you, I really do think that you are corrupting my little sister, and if I was more concerned about it, I would have already had words with you on the matter," Letty said, as she took Cirno's hand, and lead her out after the other girls, leaving only Marisa and Sanae in the locker room together, in an awkward silence.

"Okay, I'm all ready!" Sanae called, stepping out from the changing room that she had claimed earlier, only to begin blinking in confusion as she noticed nearly everyone was already gone, "Err, Marisa-chan, did everyone leave without us?"

"Yeah Sanae-chan," Marisa replied, bringing a hand to her forehead and groaning, before turning to grab her own skates, and gesturing for the emerald-haired girl to follow, "C'mon, we'd better catch up before they end up lost on their way out to the rink."

"Hai!" The cheerful girl replied, walking out after her blonde friend.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

"I don't know, doesn't it seem kind of strange for people to be able to do this?" Reimu asked as she stared down at her feet, mere inches away from where the carpet ended, and the ice began, her legs shaking from nerves as she held hands with her oldest friend, who was trying to offer her a reassuring smile as incentive.

"Don't worry so much about it Reimu, just look at how Alice-chan and Sanae are doing," Marisa offered, breathing a sigh of relief as Reimu's head lifted to watch the two aforementioned girls.

Despite her otherwise frail health, it seemed that the Alice who had stepped out onto the ice was an entirely different person, as she glided across the frozen surface with a professional ease. Reimu had to admit that the girl made skating look like an art form, and her cheeks began to heat up just from watching her.

Turning her attention to her other friend though, Reimu's wonder was replaced with a small amount of jealousy. Sanae was also making great time from end to end of the rink, but the shrine maiden's eyes had found something else to focus on.

Apparently the emerald-haired girl had done a lot of skating before, and according to her, before they all began to step out onto the ice, she had been entered in a few junior competitions growing up by her aunts. This meant that she had a special skating suit, which she was wearing at this moment.

Unfortunately the skin-tight leotard hugged the girl's body, gaining the attention of the few stragglers spending time out on the ice, either alone or with another, and causing many eyes to follow her, even some that should not have been. a great many number of slaps echoed through the room mere moments after Sanae stepped out onto the ice.

Reimu was of course, envious of the girl's figure, as Sanae was much better filled-out than Reimu would likely ever be, and this caused the dark gnawing feeling to grow inside of her. Thankfully her attention was pulled away for the moment as a new set of hands began to push on her back, startling her.

"Come on Reimu-chan, you're holding up the line," Letty warned, trying to rush the younger girl out onto the ice as she simply stood there nervously with her legs shaking.

"I'm having second thoughts, let me go back in, I'll watch from that balcony!" Reimu tried to reason, before with a final encouraging push from the older Whiterock sister, she went flying out onto the ice, only her reflexes keeping her upright at this point.

She was thankful that Marisa had yet to release the girl's hand, and was still holding on tightly, and Reimu was proud that she hadn't begun screaming when she began to move.

Noticing that she was beginning to slow down slightly, Reimu chanced a look over at her friend, who offered her a reassuring smile, and gently informed her, in a much kinder voice than Reimu had ever heard Marisa use, " use one of your skates to push off the ice, and balance your weight on the other." Then, almost as an afterthought, the blonde added, "don't worry about falling, I'll be right here to catch you."

a small smile began to play at Reimu's cheeks, as she did as instructed, and was rewarded by a small speed increase and more momentum, Marisa easily keeping pace with her, and, as she said, never letting go of the hand Reimu had offered to her.

The pair continued their relatively slow pace around the outside edge of the rink, Marisa never attempting to rush her partner as she got used to balancing and turning on her skates, with small words of encouragement from Marisa every so often.

As she learned, Reimu found the rest of the world slipping away from her focus, as she began to only notice herself and Marisa, gliding across the ice. Not Letty and her sometimes insufferable wit, not Cirno, who had somehow talked Letty into a race around the rink, not Alice, who had, after noticing how much trouble Youmu was having, taken up the role as the girl's tutor, and not Sanae, who was still making laps around the rink with ease and a large smile.

"Think you might be ready to move on your own?" Marisa asked suddenly, snapping Reimu out of her daze and nearly causing her to slip in surprise, and making the blonde laugh, "Easy there."

"Err, yeah, I think that I might be able to manage, just stay close in case I need you, can you promise me that?" Reimu asked, looking up at her friend. She was thankful when Marisa gave her an easygoing smile and a thumbs-up, before slowly releasing Reimu's hand.

at first Reimu wobbled a bit, now having to focus on balancing all by herself, and several times nearly losing it. She noticed out of the corner of her eye how Marisa kept reacting to her near-falls, apparently ready at a moments notice to catch her as needed, just like she had promised, warming the brunette's heart.

Remembering everything that Marisa had taught her, Reimu began to keep up with the blonde as she lead her in another lap around the arena, her confidence growing in her chest .

"It looks like you're doing really good Reimu-chan!" Sanae commented as she slid up beside Marisa, and chose to keep pace with the pair.

"Yeah, after she got over the initial fear, I think that Reimu started to really enjoy herself," Marisa replied, eyes transfixed on her friend, which did not go unnoticed by the emerald-haired girl.

'Hmm, I think I've spotted something good here,' Sanae thought to herself with a wide grin, before darting off ahead, calling back over her shoulder, "You keep doing what works for you Reimu-chan!"

Next to visit the pair were Alice and Youmu, who had apparently also finished their little tutorial. Alice grabbed Marisa's hand, and began to lead her off from the pair, while trying to hide a small smile, "Hey Reimu, how about swapping partners for a little while?"

"Okay, I'll keep Youmu-chan company for a bit," Reimu said, waving off the pair of blonde's without thinking too much about it. Alice seemed to appreciate it as Marisa spluttered incomprehensibly beside her.

Turning to her partner, Reimu offered the silver-haired girl a small smile as they continued at their somewhat slow pace, "So, how are you finding ice skating Youmu-chan?"

"It's not nearly as scary as I expected, to be honest, Reimu-chan," Youmu replied, matching the shrine maiden's own smile with one of hers, "I am especially thankful that Alice-chan had a pair of pants that I could borrow. I thought that I would die of mortification if I had to go skating in a skirt."

"Hah, at least you aren't being forced to do that," Reimu commented, pointing to the centre of the rink. Youmu turned to look at what had caught her sempai's attention, and had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Marisa I swear if you don't put me down right now!" Alice warned, as Marisa held the girl over her head, laughing like an idiot, as the two skated in slow circles. Reimu had to wonder how Marisa had found time to lift up the frail blonde, or where she had learned such a move, but was too amused and focused on keeping her momentum to go and ask.

**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**

**Chapter 14 complete**

**Please note these last two chapters were heavily influenced by the interference of Wolfsbane706, whom I've been bouncing ideas off of recently regarding future chapters, and who has been trying to help me settle a few internal matters.**

**I'm also sad to announce this is the last chapter I have ready for release, and that with this, I am going to be taking a (hopefully) short break from Gensokyo Tenshi, to focus on a few other projects and series that I've been planning to work on and have been accumulating ideas for.**

**I'd like everyone who may have a problem with this impromptu break (not a hiatus), to keep in mind how drastically my plans regarding this story have changed in the last few chapters, since my original plan was to already be starting act 2 at this point, but, due to unforeseen complications, I was forced to scrap 3 chapters, and am now re-evaluating the story.**

**This time is not going to simply be spent working on other projects (but that will play a hefty part in this break), but also for me to begin planning what I need to do next to get the story moving once more, and in order to try and create a new buffer of chapters, so I don't feel nearly as pressured to write when I don't have the inspiration for it.**

**Thanks to everyone so far for your continued interest in this story, and I hope that I may have encouraged some of you to give a shot at reading a few of my other projects in the meantime. Ja Ne!**

**Stay tuned for Chapter 15.**


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